GST Council approves ownership change of GSTN structure.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has approved ownership change of GST Network (GSTN) structure and now it will be converted into a government holding.

Briefing media after chairing the 27th meeting of the council through video -conferencing today, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, the government will acquire the 51 percent stake held by private entities and subsequently the central and the state governments will hold a 50 percent stake each in the entity. He said, the collective share of state governments will be pro-rata divided among the states as per their GST ratios.

On the issue of imposition of cess on sugar, the Finance Minister said that the GST Council took note of the prevailing distress in the sector where the farmers are facing a tough situation as the cost of sugar is more than its market price.

He said, the Council has recommended setting up of Group of Ministers from State Governments to look into the proposal and make a recommendation within two weeks.

On the issue of incentive to promote digital transaction, the Council recommend setting up of a Group of Ministers from state governments to look into the issue of giving two percent incentive for digital payments.

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