New Delhi, June 22: The GST Council meeting chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Saturday decided to exempt services provided by Indian Railways from GST. 

Addressing the media after the council meeting, the Finance Minister said the purchase of railway tickets and payments for waiting room and cloak room charges have been exempted from GST. 

Similarly, no GST will be levied on services provided like battery-operated vehicles and intra-railway services.

The Council has also decided to exempt GST on charges for hostels for students that are located outside educational institutions. The exemption will be extended to hostels run by communities as well. 

However, the condition will be that the upper limit of charges will be Rs 20,000 per person per month and the student must have stayed in the hostel for a continuous period of 90 days.

The condition has been introduced to prevent hotels from taking advantage of the exemption, she added.  

The Finance Minister clarified that hostels located within education institutions are already exempt from GST.

GST Council okays uniform 12 per cent GST on milk cans, cartons, water sprinklers

The GST Council meeting recommended a uniform GST rate of 12 per cent on all milk cans whether they be made of steel, iron, or aluminum, Sitharaman said. 

Milk cans will be governed by a standard measurement and not by the material they are made of, in order to avoid ambiguity, the Finance Minister said.

They are called milk cans but wherever they are used, that will be the rate applicable so that no disputes arise out of it, she added.

The council also recommended a uniform GST rate of 12 per cent on all carton boxes and cases of both corrugated and non-corrugated paper or paper board. 

This will in particular help the apple growers of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

A uniform 12 per cent GST has also been recommended on all types of water sprinklers including fire water sprinklers, she added. 

(IANS)

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