GST Council Recommends 5% GST on Covid Medicines, Medical Devices

· Exemption Valid only for Four Months upto 30 Sept 2021

[ABS News Service/12.06.2021]

The 44th GST Council met under the Chairmanship of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman through video conferencing on 12 June 2021. The Council in its meeting has decided to reduce the GST rates on the specified items being used in Covid-19 relief and management till 30th September, 2021.

The meeting was also attended by Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs and senior officers of the Ministry of Finance & States/ UTs.

The details of recommendations are given below:

S. No.	Description	Present GST Rate	GST Rate recommended by GST Council
A.	Medicines
1.	Tocilizumab	5%	Nil
2.	Amphotericin B	5%	Nil
3.	Anti-Coagulants like Heparin	12%	5%
4.	Remdesivir	12%	5%
5.	Any other drug recommended by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Dept. of Pharma (DoP) for Covid treatment	Applicable Rate	5%
B.	Oxygen, Oxygen generation equipment and related medical devices
1.	Medical Grade Oxygen	12%	5%
2.	Oxygen Concentrator/ Generator, including personal imports thereof	12%	5%
3.	Ventilators	12%	5%
4.	Ventilator masks / canula / helmet	12%	5%
5.	BiPAP Machine	12%	5%
6.	High flow nasal canula (HFNC) device	12%	5%
C.	Testing Kits and Machines
1.	Covid Testing Kits	12%	5%
2.	Specified Inflammatory Diagnostic Kits, namely D-Dimer, IL-6, Ferritin and LDH	12%	5%
D.	Other Covid-19 related relief material
1.	Pulse Oximeters, incl personal imports thereof	12%	5%
2.	Hand Sanitizer	18%	5%
3.	Temperature check equipment	18%	5%
4.	Gas/Electric/other furnaces for crematorium, including their installation, etc.	18%	5%
5.	Ambulances	28%	12%

These rate reductions/exemptions shall remain in force upto 30th September 2021.