India GST Panel Reduces Tax Rate on Some Medical Items

Ambulances are lined up at a crematorium on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, on Friday, April 23, 2021. Bodies piling up at crematoriums and burial grounds across India are sparking concerns that the death toll from a ferocious new Covid-19 wave may be much higher than official records, underplaying the scale of a resurgence that is overwhelming the country's medical system. Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

Bijou George, Bloomberg News

Jun 12, 2021

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(Bloomberg) -- India’s Goods and Services Tax panel reduced the tax rate on some medical items, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The GST Council cut the tax rate on ambulances to 12% from 28% now, Sitharaman said in a press briefing on Saturday.

The levy on various medical equipment including medical grade oxygen, oxygen concentrators and ventilators, as well as antiviral drug remdesivir, was lowered to 5% from 12%, she said.

The panel exempted the tocilizumab and amphotericin drugs from the value added tax, the finance minister said.

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