2024-09-11 05:36:52
New Delhi: The GST Council has decided to reduce the tax on the operation of helicopter services for religious pilgrimages to 5%. Uttarakhand Finance Minister Prem Chand Agarwal gave this information on Monday. This decision was taken in the 54th meeting of the GST Council chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Agarwal told reporters here, ‘The tax on helicopter services carrying devotees on religious pilgrimages like Kedarnath, Badrinath has been reduced from 18% to 5%. Earlier there was no clarity about this. Now there will be clarity.’
What is the purpose of this step?
The aim of this step is to reduce the expenses of religious pilgrims. This will make it cheaper to travel by helicopter to religious places like Kedarnath, Badrinath and Vaishno Devi. Helicopter services will reduce travel time and passengers will be able to reach their destination more comfortably. This facility is expected to prove very useful especially for religious places located in hilly areas. The entire tourism sector will benefit from the increase in religious tourism. Hotels, restaurants and other service providers will also benefit.
Many important issues are likely to be discussed in the meeting of the GST Council, the highest decision-making body on GST-related matters. This also includes reduction in tax on life and health insurance premiums.
More decisions are likely to be made
Aggarwal said that the Council has referred the issue of levying 18% GST on payment aggregators (PAs) like BillDesk and CCAvenue for small digital transactions up to Rs 2,000 through debit and credit cards to the Tax Recommendation Committee. Currently, payment aggregators are exempted from paying GST on transactions of less than Rs 2,000.
The Council may also discuss the report of the Fitment Committee on taxation of life and health insurance premium.