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Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed the House on Monday that representations have been received seeking a reduction of GST rates on items like knives, spoons and water pump sets.
Upon a query on whether the government proposes to reduce GST slabs on aforesaid items, the Minister of State for Finance had said the GST rates and exemption were prescribed by the government, based only on the recommendations of GST Council, which is a constitutional body comprising members from Union and state governments. The Minister also mentioned so far, there is no such recommendation by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council. In another response upon queries on gold smuggling, the minister of state said the government makes policy interventions and takes operational measures to check smuggling. He informed the House that to deter the smuggling of gold, Customs field formations and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) keep constant vigil and take operational measures such as passenger profiling, risk-based interdiction and targeting of cargo consignments, non-intrusive inspection, rummaging of aircraft and coordination with other agencies. The minister said circulars related to new modus or method used by the gold smugglers are issued from time to time. He also added that in the past three years, National Investigation Agency (NIA) has conducted investigations and filed charge sheets in three cases of gold smuggling. (ANI)
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