Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, has made it clear that the government has no intention to cut the rates of GST on health insurance premium as no proposal has been made by the GST Council. .
The Modi government at the Center has dashed the hopes of common customers including insurance companies that it was being said that the government can change the rates of GST on health insurance premiums.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman clarified the government’s position in this regard in the Lok Sabha on Monday. In a written answer to a question, he has given information about this.
Despite the demand of insurance companies, the financial year 2022-23BudgetFinance Minister presentingNirmala Sitharamanhad not announced any reduction in this. Even after this, there were reports that the government is considering it. In view of Kovid-19, insurance companies had demanded that the rates of GST should be cut.
GST Council did not propose to cut
In response to a written question on Monday, the Finance Minister said that the GST Council has not made any proposal to cut the rates of GST on health insurance premium. He told that the 37th meeting of the GST Council was held on September 20, 2019. No proposal to cut rates was made in that meeting.
18% GST is levied
Health insurance premium attracts GST at the rate of 18 per cent applicable on luxury products. Whereas before the implementation of GST, the rate of service tax on it was only 15 percent.
According to Nirmala Sitharaman, the government has already given tax exemption to some health insurance.
These include Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), Universal Health Insurance Scheme, Jan Arogya Bima Yojana and Niramaya Health Insurance Scheme. He said that health services have also been kept out of GST.
