GST Reforms: Big Relief For Farmers As Tax Rate Slashed To 5% For Key Agricultural Tools

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted how the key drivers of the economy were given prominence while deciding the reformed GST rates.

"Farmers and agricultural support will benefit from the decisions we have taken today," she said during the press meet conducted post the GST Council meeting on Wednesday.

Agricultural, horticultural or forestry machinery for soil preparation or cultivation; lawn or sports-ground rollers; and harvesting or threshing machinery, including straw or fodder balers; grass or hay mowers have all come down to 5% slab from the earlier 12% slab.

Tax rate for key farming equipment such as drip irrigation system and sprinklers and their nozzles have been bumped down to 5% from 12%; along with composting machines, and other agricultural machinery including germination plant fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment; poultry incubators and brooders are also included in this category.

The inverted duty structure problem refers to a case where the taxation on input materials is higher than the output.

The finance minister shed light on how this problem has been corrected for various goods, including those relevant to agriculture, such as fertilizers.

The Council has corrected inverted duty structure problems in the fertilizers sector by reducing GST from 18% to 5% on sulphuric acid, nitric acid and ammonia — all important raw materials for the manufacturing of fertilizers.