The Hon’ble Finance Minister in his Budget speech on 10.07.2014 stated that this Government will not ordinarily bring about any change retrospectively which creates a fresh liability. While it is true that the Government kept to its promise in the first two years, deviations were seen in the 2016 Budget. GST, which is a completely new landscape, has seen the first retrospective exercise and that too through a Notification.
Notification No. 2/2017 – Central Tax (Rate) provided for exemptions from GST in respect of goods. A number of items were fully exempted from GST with an exclusion of items put up in unit containers and bearing registered brand name (Eg. Chena, paneer, natural honey, wheat, flour, etc.) The said notification was dated 28.06.2017; issued under Section 11(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 and was effective from 01.07.2017.
