The GST Council in its meet on Saturday decided to form a sub-committee to address issues faced by small businesses. This sub-committee for MSME (micro small and medium enterprises) sector will be headed by Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla.

The others on the MSME sub-committee will include:

• Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi- Manish Sissodia
• Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar- Sushil Modi
• Finance Minister of Assam- Himanta Biswa Sarma
• Finance Minister of Kerala- Thomas Isaac
• Finance Minister of Punjab- Manpreet Singh Badal

Talking to the reporters after the meeting, the Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said, "The issues related to the law will be taken up by the law committee and those related to rates will go to the fitment committee."

It was decided that the issues discussed the meet on Saturday would be taken up in detail and presented before the GST Council in the future. The next meeting is likely to be held on September 29-30 in Goa.

Badal said the group of ministers would submit a report in the next six weeks.

State representatives of MSMEs have been working on concerns faced by the sector in the last 13 months due to significant changes in processes under GST regime. One of the suggestions made by the representatives of the MSME sector was to increase the threshold of inter-state supplies for taxpayers to Rs 20 lakh for registration under the GST. At present, taxpayers making inter-state supplies must register under GST even if their annual turnover is below Rs 20 lakh.

The issues faced by the MSMEs will now be discussed before the GST Council before the final call.