The 49th meeting of the GST Council, held in New Delhi under the chairpersonship of Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, approved a series of important measures focused on clearing pending GST compensation to States, rationalising tax rates, and easing compliance for taxpayers. A major decision was taken to clear the entire pending balance of GST compensation amounting to ₹16,982 crore for June 2022, which the Centre decided to release from its own resources due to the absence of funds in the compensation cess pool, with recovery to be made from future cess collections. In addition, final compensation of ₹16,524 crore was approved for States that had submitted certified revenue figures, thereby completing the compensation commitment envisaged under the GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017. The Council adopted, with modifications, the report of the Group of Ministers on the GST Appellate Tribunal and approved the GoM report on capacity-based taxation and special composition schemes in certain sectors, particularly to address revenue leakages in commodities such as pan masala and tobacco through improved compliance and tracking measures rather than a capacity-based levy. On the rate front, GST on ‘rab’ was reduced to 5 percent when sold pre-packaged and labelled and exempted when sold otherwise, while the GST rate on pencil sharpeners was reduced from 18 percent to 12 percent, along with regularisation of past disputes. The Council also approved several trade facilitation measures, including amnesty schemes, extensions of timelines for revocation of cancelled registrations, rationalisation of late fees for annual returns, and clarification on place of supply for transportation of goods, reflecting a balanced approach towards revenue protection and ease of doing business.