Sanitary napkins exempted from GST; Parrikar welcomes the decision

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday welcomed the decision of the GST Council to exempt sanitary napkins from the tax.

"A welcome decision to exempt sanitary napkins from GST at the 28th #GSTCouncilMeet chaired by Shri @PiyushGoyal. An important step by @narendramodi Govt. That is vital to the health and well-being of women and girls," he tweeted on Saturday, after at a meeting of the 28th Goods and Services Tax Council in the national capital, it was resolved to exempt sanitary napkins from GST.

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Sanitary napkins were taxed at 12 per cent GST, after the indirect tax regime was introduced a year back.

After a meeting of the GST Council, Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar exempted the sanitary napkins from GST.

Sanitary napkins are taxed 12 per cent tax under the one-year old GST regime, which attracted serious criticism from various quarters.

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Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the 28th GST Council meeting, the minister also said that tax on bamboo also has been slashed to 12 per cent.

This would mean there would be no input tax credit available, even though inputs in the production of sanitary napkins are taxed.