Conceding a year-long demand, sanitary napkins were yesterday exempted from GST, as the Council reduced tax rates on an array of daily use appliances and products. Millions of consumers, small traders and artisans will benefit from the move ahead of the festival season. While GST tax on sanitary pads was cut from 12 per cent to zero, rakhis were exempted from the tax, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters.

Among items on which GST was reduced include footwear, small television sets, water heater, electric ironing machines, refrigerators, lithium ion batteries, hair dryers and food appliances. The value limit of footwear was enhanced from R500 to Rs 1,000 for 5 per cent rate. The council also approved the proposal to allow quarterly return filing for taxpayers with a turnover of upto R5 crore, a move that will benefit nearly 93 per cent of tax assessees as they would now be required to file returns only once in three months.