GST to Make Food Items Cheaper: Harsimrat Kaur Badal

New Delhi: The prices of most of the food items will go down from July 1 when the Goods and Services Tax or GST comes into effect from July 1. This was said by the Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal. This is so because as the GST rate on them has been kept within 5 per cent range.

“I am happy that the GST rate (on food items) has been kept within five per cent range. Lot of things will be cheaper. Food items are definitely not going to be expensive,” the Food Processing Minister said.

The Food Processing Minister said that she had requested the finance minister Arun Jaitley to keep food items in ‘exempt’ category or lowest GST rate slab.

On being asked whether the government has taken steps to double farmers’ income, the minister said agriculture and other ministries concerned were taking adequate measures to achieve the goal by 2022.

“I believe that food processing sector will play a pivotal role in doubling farmers’ income by 2022. We are creating infrastructure so that farmers can do value addition to their produce and boost their income,” she added.