GST Council Meet: Nirmala Sitharaman announces pan-India roll out of biometric-based Aadhaar authentication - Explained

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced pan-India roll out of biometric-based Aadhaar authentication.

Sitharaman made the announcement during a press conference held after the 53rd GST council meeting. 

“There is going to be a rolling out of biometric-based Aadhaar authentication on an all-India basis,” said Sitharaman.

The Finance Minister explained that this will help the government to combat fraudulent input tax credit claims made through fake invoices in the cases.

“We ran a pilot in Gujarat and in Puducherry. There have been very good inputs coming out of it. This will help us combat fraudulent input tax credit claims made through fake invoices in the cases. So the GST council has recommended to roll-out biometric-based Aadhaar authentication of registration of applicants on an all India basis in a phased manner.”

Sitharaman said that the Council meeting has taken a lot of decisions which will benefit the traders, MSMEs and taxpayers.

The decisions were taken on trade facilitation, easing compliance burden and giving relief to tax taxpayers in terms of compliance easing out, said the Finance Minister.

Here's what Nirmala Sitharaman said

• Council recommended to prescribe 12% GST on all solar cookers whether it has single or dual energy source. 
• Services provided by Indian Railways to the common man, sale of platform tickets, facility of retiring rooms, waiting rooms, cloakroom services, battery operated car services are being exempted from GST. 
• Intra-railway supplies are also being exempted. Hostels which are for students outside of educational institutions are also being exempted.
•  The council has recommended exempting accommodation services having a value of supply up to ₹20,000 per person per month...These services are supplied for a minimum continuous period of 90 days…
• Council recommended to prescribe a uniform rate of 12% on all milk cans meaning steel, iron, aluminium which are irrespective of the use. 
• The council also recommended to prescribe a uniform GST rate of 12% on all carton boxes and cases of both corrugated and non-corrugated paper or paper board.

Earlier in the day, Sitharaman chaired the the pre-budget consultations with the Finance Ministers of States and Union Territories (with Legislature) in New Delhi.