• Notification Date: 31-10-2023
• Notification No: N/A

Bengaluru’s Solid Waste Management Company gets GST Exemption

The Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML), the company set up by the state government for proper SWM has been exempted from paying 18 per cent GST to the state government. 

This decision of exemption was taken at the 52nd GST council meeting held on October 7, in New Delhi. It was chaired by Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. At the meeting, a recommendation was made to exempt the services of water supply, public health, sanitation, conservancy, solid waste management and slum improvement and upgradation supplied to governmental authorities. The recommendation was accepted by the Council. 

Commissioner for Commercial Taxes (Karnataka), Shikha C. confirmed the same to The New Indian Express and pure public service organisations have been exempted. On the query of the change in state contribution to the GST, she said, it is a state fund and now the decision has been taken to exempt government bodies. 

A senior official from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), SWM, said the 18 per cent exemption is a welcome move. He said that this subject was placed before the council earlier also but has now been approved. The payment to contractors will also be improved, with this. 

The official said that the next step will also be to improve the contractual services undertaken by the company for the BBMP and to bring in more professionalism. “We are also waiting for the final court verdict to start the collection of user fee from citizens for SWM. Bengaluru is the only large city that is not collecting. It is collected in Delhi, Mumbai and Indore. The amount varies from Rs 2 a day to Rs 100 a month. With this there will be accountability in waste management- collection and processing. There will also be accountability on the part of pourakarmikas, contractors and BBMP to ensure proper waste management. This will also help in improving Bengaluru’s Swachch Bharat ranking,” the official added.