Ministers mulling GST reduction on agricultural inputs, equipment
The government on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that a Group of Ministers (GoM) was examining the proposal to reduce Goods and Services Tax on key agricultural inputs and equipment and would take a call on the same.
A previous attempt to lower GST on farm inputs was turned down by the GST Council.
Reduction in GST on farm products has been a long standing demand of farmers and would considerably reduce their input cost on production.
Replying to discussions on the Finance Bill 2025, which Lok Sabha passed later, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman defended the GST regime as “progressive” and said the highest GST slab of 28 per cent was applicable only to less than 3 per cent items of common consumption while 60 per cent such goods attracted a GST of 5 per cent or lower.
About GST on agri products, Sitharaman said there was zero GST on seeds, 5 per cent on fertilisers, zero GST on agri implements manually operated or animal driven, 12 per cent on tractors and 12 per cent on agri pumps.
