Power, coal, renewable energy and mines minister Piyush Goyal welcomed the GST council’s decision to keep coal in the lowest tax slab of 5%.
“The entire GST regime has been designed to being down the cost of goods and aims at one nation, one tax to reduce corruption. I am happy that the GST Council decided to keep coal in 5% tax slab. It will help bring down costs,” Goyal said on Friday at a media conference.
The GST Council on Thursday fixed 5% cent tax against the current tax incidence of 11.69%. Goyal, however, said a higher tax slab of 18% for solar modules will not impact solar power tariffs. “Tariffs for solar projects vary from project to project. The rise will be compensated by the decline in corruption and operational difficulties,” he said.
The prices of solar and wind energy have hit record low and the industry is now able to stand on its own feet without any support, he said.
