If you go to watch a movie in the theater with your wife, children or friends, then you must be enjoying popcorn, but now this fun is going to be expensive. Actually, in the 55th GST Council meeting held in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, a big decision has been taken regarding tax on popcorn. The Council has included popcorn in different slabs of GST (GST On Popcorn) according to flavor. This means that now you will have to spend more money to buy it. Let us know in detail how big its market is in the country and how much tax will be levied on which flavor of popcorn…
3 types of taxes on popcorn
The 55th meeting of the GST Council was held under the chairmanship of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan on Saturday and many important decisions were taken in it. These decisions also include new tax rates on popcorn. The Council has agreed to impose not one but three types of GST rates on popcorn, which will be according to its flavors available in the market.
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Popcorn with sugar and salt and spices is taxed
The proposal to impose GST on Popcorn has been agreed upon in the council meeting and complete details regarding tax rates on ready-to-eat popcorn have also been revealed. Consider this, if the popcorn you buy is prepared with ordinary salt and spices and is not packaged and labelled, then GST at the rate of 5 percent will be applicable on it. On the other hand, if the same popcorn with salt and spices is sold packaged and labeled, then the tax rate on it will increase to 12% instead of 5%.
Not only this, if we talk about sugar flavored popcorn, then buying it will burn the most in your pocket. In fact, according to the proposal agreed upon in the GST Council meeting, popcorn prepared from sugar like caramel has been placed in the category of ‘sugar confectionery’ and GST will be levied on it at the rate of 18 percent. Let us tell you here that these taxes are already being imposed on popcorn, which have now been clarified by the GST Council. Giving clarification from the government, it has been said that it has been decided to regularize the tax on popcorn on as is where basis.
According to the GST Council, no new tax of any kind has been imposed on Popcorn. In this meeting only the already applicable tax rates have been clarified. The reason for this is that some sectors were demanding different tax rates on it. In such a situation, these rates have now been clarified to settle any kind of disputes.
Business is big not only in India but all over the world
Popcorn is a big business not only in India but all over the world. According to a report, last year in 2023, the popcorn business in India was around Rs 1200 crore and it is continuously increasing. On the other hand, its market has increased to more than 8 billion dollars worldwide so far this year.
These big decisions were also taken in the council meeting
In the 55th GST Council meeting, not only regarding GST on popcorn, but many other big decisions have also been taken. Old Car GST is also included in this. Companies/registered used car sellers reselling EV, petrol, diesel cars will have to pay 18 percent GST on the margin price. For individual buyer or seller it will remain only 12%.
Apart from this, the rates of fortified rice have been reduced to 5%. Gene therapy has been completely exempted. ACC blocks containing more than 50 percent fly ash will now have GST reduced from 18 percent to 12 percent. Apart from this, the Council clarified that black pepper and raisins, when supplied by a farmer, will not attract GST.
These important decisions were postponed in this meeting
It was expected that major decisions would be taken on some important issues in the GST meeting, but these have been postponed. In this, no consensus could be reached on the proposal to reduce or remove the GST rate on health insurance and life insurance, while there was a proposal to reduce the GST rate on ordering food online from online food delivery platforms Zomato and Swiggy. The proposal has also been postponed. Along with this, the 18 percent GST applicable on hotels and restaurants has not been changed. There was a proposal to reduce it to 5 percent.