Kerala govt decides to promulgate ordinance to amend state GST law on gambling

The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting held by CM Pinarayi Vijayan and the amendments will come into effect from October 1, 2023.

Thrissur: The Kerala government on Wednesday decided to promulgate an ordinance amending the state Goods and Service Tax (GST) law with regard to gambling.

The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting held by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in this central Kerala district, a statement issued by his office said.

The statement further read that the 50th GST Council meeting had fixed 28 per cent GST on casino, horse racing and online gaming and had also decided that the tax should be levied on the face value of the bet.

Subsequently, the central government had notified the amendment to the GST Act and therefore, amendments are being made in the state GST law in accordance with that, per the statement, and further read that other states were also amending the law.

The ordinance is also said to include provisions to remove some of the ambiguities in the existing GST law with regard to betting for money including online gaming, casino and horse racing.

The amendments will come into effect from October 1, 2023, per the statement which then detailed that the cabinet also decided to give permission to amend the rules regarding allotment of land for industrial purposes.

The cabinet has approved amending of the Land Allotment and Assignment for Industrial Purposes Rules 2023 with regard to granting title in government land in industrial areas for industrial purposes and transfer of ownership rights of industrialists.

Besides these, the cabinet will be seeking the Governor's approval to amend the second schedule of the Administrative Rules of the government with regard to granting remission of sentence, the statement said.

The statement from CM Vijayan's office further read that the granting of remission of sentence shall be subject to the decision of the cabinet.