Amendment bill to bring betting, gaming in 28 pc GST bracket tabled in Maharashtra assembly

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Pic/PTI

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday tabled an amendment bill in the assembly that seeks to bring online gaming, betting, casinos, horse racing and lottery in the highest GST bracket of 28 per cent, reported news agency PTI.

Ajit Pawar also holds the finance portfolio.

The bill to amend the Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, will be discussed in the ongoing winter session of the state legislature and once passed by the lower house, it will go to the Legislative Council for vote and approval, reported PTI.

The bill will bring a set of new services under the highest GST bracket and once it becomes a law, the state will get a new source of revenue, reported PTI.

A senior official of the finance department said these services put together have a turnover running into thousands of crores and the state will definitely benefit once tax is levied on them, reported PTI.

Meanwhile, the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government on Thursday tabled supplementary demands of Rs 55,520.77 crore in the state assembly on the first day of the winter session of the legislature in Nagpur, reported PTI.

The supplementary demands, which are additional funds sought by the government over the budgetary allocation, were tabled in the House by Finance Minister Ajit Pawar.

Of the total, supplementary demands of Rs 19,244.34 crore were described as mandatory expenditure, while demands of Rs 32,792.81 crore are required for various ongoing programmes and schemes of the state government, a note issued by the finance department said, reported PTI.

Besides that, supplementary demands of Rs 3,483.62 crore are towards the state's contribution to the ongoing schemes of the Union government, it said, reported PTI.

"There are several ongoing schemes which require a portion of financial expenditure from the state's coffers," a finance department official said, reported PTI.

The actual impact of these supplementary demands on the state treasury would be Rs 48,384.66 crore, the note said, reported PTI.

Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar of the Congress sought to corner the Eknath Shinde government in the assembly on Thursday over crop losses suffered by farmers due to recent unseasonal rains in parts of Maharashtra and demanded a loan waiver, while Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis listed steps taken to help cultivators.

Speaking in the lower house on the first day of the state legislature's winter session in Nagpur, Wadettiwar claimed the Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP (Ajit Pawar group) government has no time for farmers affected by recent unseasonal rains and water scarcity or drought in some parts of the state.

"The state government is spending more on its own events than helping farmers, who lost their crops due to unseasonal showers. Crop assessment reports are still pending, adding to farmers' frustration," said the Congress MLA.

(With inputs from PTI)