No GST on cash withdrawal from banks: FM Sitharaman
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New Delhi, Aug 3: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Rajya Sabha said there is no GST on the withdrawal of cash from banks. There is no GST on cash withdrawal from banks, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, and GST tax only on bank purchasing cheque book from printer, she added.
All states at the GST Council agreed to the proposal to levy 5 percent GST on pre-packed, labeled food items, and not one person spoke against that proposal, said the Finance Minister. She added there was no GST on hospital beds or ICU (intensive care unit), and the tax was only on rooms with ₹ 5000 per day rent.
The consumption of any food item by the poor is not taxed, said Sitharaman, explaining that the levy of 5 percent GST was only on pre-packed, labeled items and not on those sold in loose quantities. Every state taxed some or the other food items such as cereal, pulses, curd, lassi, and buttermilk, said the Finance Minister, defending the levy of GST on food items. She added that there is no GST on crematoriums, and there is a tax only on the construction of a new crematorium. The Minister, replying to a debate on inflation in the Rajya Sabha, said we are at a 7 percent inflation rate now because of some effort by the RBI and the government, referring to runaway inflation in other countries. She said we are not saying there is no inflation, and nobody is in denial about the price rise.
The government has adopted a targeted approach, based on ground-level inputs, to tackle retail inflation, which is ruling at around 7 percent, said Sitharaman in response to the debate on price rise. She said the Indian economy is much better than the country's peer group and some developed economies.