Parul
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 the above-said items, Chaudhary said the GST rates and exemption were prescribed by the government, based only on the recommendations of the GST Council.
GST council is a constitutional body comprising members from the Union and state governments. The Minister also mentioned so far, there is no such recommendation by the GST Council.
In another response to queries on gold smuggling, the minister of state said the government makes policy interventions and takes operational measures to check to smuggle.
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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 methods 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.
