Consumer companies to benefit most from GST rate cut

The biggest beneficiaries of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council’s recent rate cuts were consumer staples, cosmetics, household durables and building material manufacturers. This is because 78 per cent of the total 228 items, under the highest slab of 28 to 18 per cent, were items of mass consumption and, thus, fall under these categories. Those that did not find a place on the tax cut list included ‘sin’ and luxury goods. Even paints and cement were left out of the proposed reduction but manufacturers are hopeful that there will be a further pruning of some more items over