Definition of business clarified: government activities as public authorities excluded from taxable business under GST.
An Explanation was added to Notification No. 11/2017 - Central Tax (Rate) clarifying that, for the specified item, the term "business" excludes any activity or transaction undertaken by the Central Government, a State Government or any local authority when engaged as public authorities, thereby removing such public-authority functions from the taxable scope of that notification entry; the amendment is effective from 27th July, 2018.

Municipal function activities excluded from supply classification; amendment treats services linked to municipal functions as neither goods nor services.
The amendment to Notification No.14/2017 inserts "or Union territory" after "State Government" and adds "or to a Municipality under article 243W of the Constitution" after "Constitution", thereby excluding services relating to functions entrusted to municipalities under Article 243W from being classified as a supply of goods or services under the notification.

Reverse Charge Mechanism: services by individual DSAs to banks and NBFCs made taxable under RCM.
Amends the CGST Rate notification to make services supplied by individual Direct Selling Agents (excluding corporate, partnership and LLP forms) to banking companies and non-banking financial companies located in the taxable territory subject to tax under the Reverse Charge Mechanism, placing tax incidence on the recipient. Also inserts an Explanation defining renting of immovable property to include access, occupation, use or similar arrangements, with or without transfer of possession or control.

GST exemptions expanded for specified social, agricultural and government services, subject to eligibility criteria and conditional limitations.
Amends Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) to insert multiple GST exemptions and technical changes: exemptions for services by old age homes for senior residents where consideration includes boarding, lodging and maintenance; electricity distribution works extending supply to a farmer's tube well for agricultural use; warehousing of minor forest produce; services by Coal Mines Provident Fund Organisation and National Pension System Trust; government loan-guarantee services to undertakings and PSUs; FSSAI licensing and testing services to food business operators; artificial insemination of livestock other than horses; conditional exemption for State assignment of royalty collection to ERCC with accounting and payment conditions; and a capped membership-fee exemption for certain non-profit bodies, along with terminology substitutions and an educational-boards clarification.

GST rate revisions notify classification and taxability changes for restaurant supplies, multimodal transport and digital goods.
Amends Notification No.11/2017 to revise CGST treatment for restaurant and institutional food supplies, including separate inclusion of Indian Railways/IRCTC supplies, subject to the condition that input tax credit on goods and services used in supplying the service has not been taken; classifies event based supplies at exhibitions and functions separately; substitutes "declared tariff" with value of supply in specified items; defines multimodal transportation and carves out e-books as a distinct lower-rated information supply. The amendments take effect on 27 July 2018.

Extension of exemption under CGST Act by substituting the notification cut off date, deferring expiry of the prior tax position.
Amends the Central Tax (Rate) notification to substitute the prior cut-off date at the end of June with a later end-of-September date, thereby extending the period during which the existing rate/exemption regime under the CGST framework continues to apply; the amendment is a temporal substitution of the operative date without changing rates or other substantive conditions.

Reverse Charge Mechanism applied to Priority Sector Lending Certificates making the recipient registered person liable for CGST.
Notification No. 11/2018 amends Notification No. 4/2017 to treat Priority Sector Lending Certificates as a taxable supply and to place tax liability on the recipient under the Reverse Charge Mechanism, specifying both supplier and recipient as any registered person and effectuating the change under section 9(3) of the Central GST Act.

GST exemption under section 9(4) extended to 30 June 2018 by central tax notification.
The Central Government amends Notification No.8/2017-Central Tax (Rate) to substitute the terminal date "31st day of March, 2018" with "30th day of June, 2018", thereby extending the period of relief under section 9(4) of the CGST Act; the amendment is effected by Notification No.10/2018 issued under section 11(1) of the Act.

Textual amendment to central tax notification corrects wording, replacing 'substituted' with 'inserted' in specified lines.
Corrigendum directs that in notification No. 6/2018-Central Tax (Rate) the word "substituted" at the specified page 7, line 3 and line 6 is to be read as "inserted", effecting a textual correction in the Gazette publication.

GST exemption scope revised to specify eligible research and educational institutions and align applicability with prior customs notification.
The notification amends the CGST rate schedule by redefining the beneficiary in serial 1 to include specified publicly funded research institutions and educational institutes, excluding hospitals, and by replacing references with "Department of Scientific and Industrial Research." It renumbers the existing Explanation as Explanation 1 and inserts Explanation 2, which aligns the GST exemption with the scope of the Government's Customs notification No. 51/96 Customs and makes the exemption applicable from 15th November, 2017.

Concessional CGST on used motor vehicles: central tax applies only to the supplier's margin where no input tax credit is claimed.
Concessional central tax applies to specified old and used motor vehicles by taxing only the supplier's margin. Where depreciation was claimed, margin equals consideration received less depreciated value on the date of supply; otherwise margin equals selling price less purchase price, with negative margins ignored. The concession does not apply if the supplier has availed input tax credit, CENVAT, VAT credit or other tax credits on the goods.

CGST rate amendments: specific tariff entries substituted and new items (feeds, oilcakes, hearing-aid parts) inserted under notification.
Amendment to the CGST rate notification substitutes the description at S. No. 102 covering various feeds and agricultural supplements, inserts S. Nos. 102A and 102B for de-oiled rice bran (2302) and cotton seed oil cake (2306), substitutes tariff code 7117 at S. No. 136A, adds the qualifier "other than ghamella" at S. No. 137, replaces item (v) at S. No. 148 with "Vibhuti", and inserts S. No. 151 for "Parts for manufacture of hearing aids".

GST rate amendments reclassify and reallocate specified goods across rate schedules, altering tariff treatment and product-specific taxation.
Amendments to the principal notification under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act revise multiple rate Schedules by inserting, substituting and omitting entries to reclassify specified goods. Key changes add tamarind kernel powder, mehendi paste in cones, rice bran, household LPG entries, bio-pesticides, biodiesel, sugar boiled confectionery, drinking water in 20-litre bottles, irrigation and spraying equipment, cigarette filter rods, bamboo joinery, sanitary ware, and reclassify precious and semi-precious stones and imitation jewellery, while substituting and omitting several earlier schedule entries.

Exemption for profit petroleum: CGST does not apply to Central Government's contractual share paid under petroleum exploration leases.
Exempts from central tax the intra State supply of services by way of grant of license or lease to explore or mine petroleum crude or natural gas where the consideration paid to the Central Government is characterized in the contract as the Central Government's share of profit petroleum, removing CGST liability on that specific contractual form of consideration.

Tax liability timing for construction-for-development-rights: liability arises when possession or right in the constructed property is transferred.
Registered persons supplying development rights in exchange for construction services, and those supplying construction services in exchange for development rights, are subject to a special rule: the liability to pay central tax on such supplies (where consideration is received as construction service or development rights) arises when the developer, builder or construction company transfers possession or the right in the constructed complex, building or civil structure to the supplier of development rights by executing a conveyance deed or similar instrument.

Reverse Charge Mechanism applied to government renting of immovable property to registered persons under GST.
The amendment applies the Reverse Charge Mechanism to renting of immovable property supplied by Central/State/UT/local authorities to any person registered under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, making the registered recipient liable to pay tax; it also adds that "insurance agent" shall carry the meaning given in clause (10) of section 2 of the Insurance Act, 1938.

GST exemption for composite supplies with limited goods content protects specified government function services from tax.
Amendments expand nil rated and exempt entries under the Central GST rate notification by inserting a nil rated composite supply entry where the goods component is not more than twenty five percent for supplies to government recipients relating to Panchayat or Municipality functions; add nil ratings for specified international transportation of goods and certain group insurance and reinsurance services; introduce nil rating for intermediaries in IFSC providing international financial services in non INR currencies to customers outside India; and add fumigation, RTI information services and refine educational and event admission treatments.

GST rate amendments expand housing concessions and clarify composite works contract treatment for government procured projects.
Notification 1/2018 amends Notification 11/2017 to expand housing related works eligible under concessional treatment to include in situ slum redevelopment, EWS houses under Affordable Housing in Partnership and Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme units, to recognise composite works contracts supplied by sub contractors to main contractors for government entrusted works, to deem the land component in certain composite supplies as one third of the total amount charged, and to revise sectoral entries and input tax credit conditions for services including housekeeping via e commerce operators, vessel time charters, mining exploration, tailoring, environmental services and amusement admissions.

Exemption for admission to protected monument creates nil GST on such admissions under amended rate notification.
The notification amends No.12/2017 by substituting serial number 11A to cover services by Fair Price Shops supplying subsidised commodities under the Public Distribution System for commission or margin, omitting serial number 11B, and inserting serial number 79A to exempt services by way of admission to a protected monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (and corresponding State Acts) at a nil rate, effective 15th November, 2017.

GST rate amendments clarifying composite works contracts, restaurant supply classification and job work treatment for handicraft manufacture.
Amends Notification No. 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) to: (i) substitute "composite supply of works contract" at serial number 3; (ii) retariff and reclassify supplies of food and drink by restaurants and eating places based on location and declared tariff and to specify that certain restaurant supplies attract central tax without input tax credit; and (iii) insert manufacture of handicraft goods under serial number 26 for reduced job work treatment with a cross reference to the definition of handicraft goods in an earlier notification.