Bengal FM urges Centre to cap insurance premiums
Kolkata: Bengal Finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya has urged the Centre to ensure that the insurance companies do not increase their premiums and charge more from the common people in the backdrop of Goods and Services Tax (GST) being withdrawn from life insurance and health insurance.
Bhattacharya, at the meeting of the GST council, expressed her apprehension about insurance companies increasing their premiums and collecting the same amount from customers, which will not at all benefit the common people.
There was 18 per cent GST on insurance premiums. The Center has announced a complete withdrawal of the same.
“Our Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, was the first to raise the demand for withdrawal of GST from insurance a year ago. A year back, she had also written a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman demanding the withdrawal of GST on insurance. We are happy that the central government took the initiative to implement it. There is a large section of people who do not understand the calculations associated with life or health insurances. Insurance companies may take advantage of that ignorance and increase their premium. So, it is not enough to just withdraw GST. After the withdrawal of GST, it must also be ensured that insurance companies cannot increase premiums on customers,” said Bhattacharya.
The removal of the 12 per cent and 28 per cent slabs of the GST was supported, with some suggestions, by the relevant Group of Ministers (GoM) on Thursday. The matter has gone to the GST Council for final consideration. The Council will consider the feedback, including questions on states’ share and compensation for revenue loss.
“I raised in the meeting that if the states are going to lose the revenue, then we want to know how we are going to be compensated. We don’t know what the actual revenue loss will be by this GST rate cut, with different nationalised banks giving different figures. They have not assessed this yet. The GoM (Group of Ministers) will now send its report to the GST Council with the notings of our concern,” added Bhattacharya.
