Chennai:  As many as 12 states on Wednesday pitched for extending by a few years the compensation provided to states for revenue lost from the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) regime. However, at its meeting Wednesday, the GST Council, the top decision-making body of the indirect tax system, did not make any decisions.

An ultimate decision will probably be made during the first week of August GST Council meeting. "The meeting featured speeches on GST compensation from as many as 16 states. There were three to four states out of them that indicated they had to be self-sufficient and not rely on compensation "Nirmala Sitharaman, minister of finance, said.

The GST Council considered the recommendations of four ministerial committees at its 47th meeting. The panels' topics included rate rationalisation, on movement of gold and precious stones, system changes, and casinos, horse racing, and online gaming. The Finance Minister announced that a decision to impose a 28% tax on casinos, online gambling, horse racing, and lotteries has been postponed until additional stakeholder consultations.

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India's net direct tax receipts rose by 45-pc through June 16