The 47th meeting of the GST Council, held in Chandigarh under the chairpersonship of Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, approved a comprehensive package of GST reforms aimed at correcting inverted duty structures, rationalising exemptions, strengthening compliance, and improving revenue buoyancy. A major focus of the meeting was rate rationalisation based on recommendations of the Group of Ministers, resulting in upward revision of GST rates on several goods and services such as inks, cutlery, pumps, machinery, LED lamps, works contracts, and job work services, while concessional rates were extended to select medical devices, orthopedic appliances, and ropeway transport. The Council also decided to withdraw or restrict exemptions on pre-packaged and pre-labelled food items, certain goods such as cheques and maps, and a range of services including renting of residential dwellings to registered persons and warehousing of taxable commodities, in order to broaden the tax base. Clarifications were issued on GST treatment of electric vehicles, fly ash bricks, mango products, ice-cream parlours, healthcare services, leasing of land, toll charges, and various service classifications to reduce litigation. On compliance and trade facilitation, the Council approved measures to allow unregistered suppliers and composition taxpayers to make intra-state supplies through e-commerce platforms, streamlined refund mechanisms, rationalised interest provisions on ITC, extended due dates and waivers for certain returns, and introduced additional digital payment options. It also approved ad-hoc IGST apportionment to States, constitution of Groups of Ministers on the GST Appellate Tribunal and online gaming, and adoption of AI/ML-based tools by GSTN to curb tax evasion. All rate changes were recommended to take effect from 18 July 2022, reflecting a balanced approach to revenue augmentation and ease of doing business.