GST exemption list likely to include 80 items (poha one of them)

Moneycontrol BureauThe much-touted Goods and Services Tax Bill (GST), which advocates the idea of one nation, one tax, still has a lot of blank spaces to fill. One of them is the exemption list. This is the list where essential items will not be brought within the ambit of GST, taking public interest into account. According to a Business Standard report, about 80 items are likely to make it to the exemption list. This includes grains, green coconut, poha, unprocessed green tea leaves, and non-mineral water.The government is still deciding on the list but it is likely that items such as coffee and few processed foods which are currently exempted from excise duty, may draw GST. Common items like bread, eggs, milk, vegetables, cereals, books and salt will continue to be exempted.In the current list there are around 300 items from central excise duty and 90 from the states value added. The Centre is aiming to keep exemptions to a minimum.