India online market holds breath pending potentially “catastrophic” GST ruling

July 4, 2022 India Crime & Legal

India is mulling a proposal to hike the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on online gaming from 18 to 28 percent in a move that would be catastrophic for the emerging industry, writes Jaydeep Chakravartty.
The GST Council met on Wednesday, 29 June to discuss the proposal but deferred the decision for a further 15 days. The same tax rate would also apply to casinos and betting on horse racing. The main issue is that the proposal on the table is to levy the tax on the entire contest entry amount rather than gross gambling revenue. This would nip the potential of the entire industry in the bud, making businesses unviable.

The council asked the Group of Ministers to re-examine the issues in its terms of reference, based on further inputs from states and submit its report by July 15.