Medicaments, Smart Phones and Medical Devices to Become Cheaper in GST

The roll out of Goods and Services Tax (GST) will bring benefits to the consumers due to reduced tax rates on various commodities, such as packaged cement, medicaments, smart phones, and medical devices.

''The packaged cement attracts central Excise duty of 12.5 per cent plus Rs 125 PMT and standard VAT rate of 14.5 per cent. At these rates, the present total tax incidence works out to more than 29 per cent. If we include tax incidence on account of CST, octroi and entry tax, the present total tax incidence would work out to more than 31 per cent. As against this, the proposed GST rate for cement is 28 per cent,'' a Finance Ministry statement said here.

There will be lesser tax burden in case of Medicaments, including Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathic or Bio-chemic systems also, it said.