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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Karthik Mani’s June 2025 commentary was a preview of the 56th GST Council meeting, not a record of its decisions. He expected discussion of rate rationalisation, GST treatment of intermediary services for foreign clients, and the operationalisation of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT). The meeting was scheduled for 3–4 September 2025 and has since taken place.
What was this commentary about?
Investment Guru India published the commentary on 5 June 2025, attributing it to Karthik Mani, Partner & Leader – Indirect Tax: South, Tax & Regulatory Advisory at BDO India. It set out expectations for an upcoming Council meeting; it should not be read as a report of decisions. The GST Council Secretariat’s notice scheduled the 56th meeting for 3 and 4 September 2025 in New Delhi, and the Secretariat published recommendations on 3 September.
Read the June 2025 commentary. The Council Secretariat’s meeting notice and its recommendations page confirm the subsequent dates.
Which GST rate issues did Mani expect the Council to discuss?
Mani identified rate rationalisation as a key expectation. The examples in his commentary were GST rates on health and term-life insurance premiums, charges collected by food delivery apps, drones, and charges collected by municipalities for granting floor space index (FSI). These were topics he expected to receive attention, not confirmed rate changes.
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The distinction matters for anyone budgeting household or business costs: a preview does not establish the tax payable. Nor does a Council recommendation, by itself, establish the effective date or legal operation of a change. Check the applicable official notification before relying on a rate for a transaction.
What was the intermediary-services issue?
The commentary said an expected discussion and decision at the 55th meeting on whether intermediary services supplied to foreign clients could qualify as exports had not materialised. Mani expected industry to look for Council attention to the issue at the 56th meeting.
The article described a dispute in which businesses, including back offices and global capability centres (GCCs), sought export treatment for services provided to overseas clients, while tax authorities treated the services as intermediary services subject to Indian tax. That is the commentary’s account of the contested issue; it does not determine how a particular service should be classified, what the final Council outcome was, or how current law applies. Businesses assessing a transaction need to consider the service arrangement and applicable GST rules rather than infer treatment from the preview.
Why did the commentary raise GSTAT?
Mani also expected the Council to assess progress in setting up the GST Appellate Tribunal and consider steps to speed its operationalisation. He said that, while GSTAT was unavailable, taxpayers were approaching High Courts against first appellate authority orders, adding to High Court pendency. This was the rationale stated in the commentary for treating the tribunal’s set-up as an important institutional issue.
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What happened after the preview?
The 56th meeting took place on 3–4 September 2025, and the Council Secretariat published recommendations on 3 September. The available official pages establish that the recommendations were issued, but they do not, on their own, reconcile every item in Mani’s preview with a specific final action. It would therefore be inaccurate to treat every forecast topic—insurance, food-delivery charges, drones, municipal FSI, intermediary services or GSTAT—as adopted, rejected or resolved on the basis of the June commentary.
For rate changes covered by its FAQ, the Ministry of Finance stated that changes for goods and services, other than specified tobacco products, were to take effect on 22 September 2025. The FAQ said existing GST rates and compensation cess continued for cigarettes, chewing tobacco products such as zarda, unmanufactured tobacco and beedi; new rates for these products were to be implemented later on a notified date after repayment of the relevant compensation-cess loan and interest liabilities. This is the implementation timing stated in the September 2025 FAQ, not confirmation of today’s rate or the current legal position. Check later notifications for current treatment.
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Consult the Council’s published recommendations and the Ministry’s FAQ on the 56th meeting for the official material and the stated implementation timing.
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