On Wednesday Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that under the current GST regime, industries in the hilly areas and North Eastern region have been provided tax exemption until March 2027. The minister after the cabinet meet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi said "Within the framework of the GST Act each industry will be entitled to its own refund mechanism during this particular period (March 31, 2027)".

As per the erstwhile scheme under the excise regime, states including Uttarakhand, J&K and HP along with north eastern region used to get a tax exemption for a period of 10 years.

The scheme works for the industries which commence their operation during the period and are eligible to get excise tax break for 10 years. Furthermore, there is an independent residuary period for each of the industry because of the beginning of the production cycle and their resultant eligibility for 10 year break or exemption.

However in the new GST regime, which went national on July1, 2017, there is no such provision specifying exemption but the Act has allows for refunds."Therefore, refund would be permitted through DBT. The sunset clause of these exemptions has been extended to 2027. 4,284 industrial establishments will be entitled to this benefit. Budgetary provision for this Rs 27,413 crore," said Arun Jaitley.