Following the announcement of GST rate cuts from Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the 54th GST council meeting, shares of pharmaceutical companies specialising in cancer drugs experienced a surge, with some seeing an increase of up to 4 per cent. This uptick coincided with a surge in benchmark indices. The GST meeting announcement said that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on cancer drugs would be reduced from 12 per cent to 5 per cent. This decision was aimed at lowering the overall cost of cancer treatment.
Impact on Pharma Stocks
Cipla's shares surged to Rs 1,642.95, marking a gain of Rs 22.80. AstraZeneca Pharma saw its shares reach Rs 6,876, after a surge of Rs 27.15, while Zydus Life Sciences experienced an increase of Rs 7, closing at Rs 1,111.15.
Additionally, Fortis Healthcare witnessed a 2.86 per cent increase in its shares, reaching Rs 561.90. However, Natco Pharma saw a decline of Rs 9. On the other hand, Abbot India and Biocon's shares did not experience significant changes in response to the announcement.
Impact of Other Key DecisionsThe 54th GST Council meeting was expected to relieve individuals and senior citizens by deciding to cut or exempt the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate applied to health insurance premiums. The current GST rate on health and life insurance policies stands at 18 per cent.Shares of life insurance companies like SBI Life and HDFC Life fell 2.41 and 4.20 per cent respectively on the NSE today after the much-awaited GST rate cut on health insurance has been postponed to the November meeting. The GST Council in its 54th GST council meeting has decided to form a Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into the issues of GST on life insurance and health insurance.Recently, there has been a further reduction in GST on snacks or savoury snacks. The stock price of Pratap Snacks Limited increased by Rs 14.40 today, reaching Rs 828. Similarly, the stock price of Bikaji rose by Rs 19.10 to Rs 854.00, while Gopal Namkeen saw a significant increase of Rs 23.95 to touch Rs 350.40.
"Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM) to be introduced on supply of metal scrap by an unregistered person to registered person provided that the supplier shall take registration as and when it crosses threshold limit and the recipient who is liable to pay under RCM shall pay tax even if the supplier is under the threshold," an official release said. According to NDTV Profit metal scrap recyclers who buy metal scraps, such as Gravita India, Pondy Oxides and Chemicals were in place to make gains and their share prices surged by 3.88 per cent and 2.89 per cent respectively.
The GST Council has raised the GST rate on car seats from 18 per cent to 28 per cent to align it with the GST rate for motorcycle seats. Stocks of Bharat Seats rallied 3 per cent due to these changes to Rs 211.
