The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday (August 8) that a letter written by Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari seeking the removal of 18 per cent GST on health and life insurance premium was released without permission.
“Some minister wrote a letter, and someone from the delegation made it public without the minister’s permission. The Opposition saw this as an opportunity,” Sitharaman said, reported The Tribune.
Last month, as the budget announced by the Centre was being criticised by many, Gadkari had written the letter to Sitharaman with a request that GST imposed on premiums for life and medical insurance plans should be withdrawn.
Gadkari had written the letter after he received a memorandum from the Nagpur Divisional Life Insurance Corporation Employees Union, NDTV had earlier reported.
In the letter, Gadkari had said that presently both life insurance and medical insurance premiums attract a GST rate of 18 per cent and levying GST on life insurance premium amounts to levying tax on the uncertainties of life.
“The Union feels that the person who covers the risk of life’s uncertainties to give some protection to the family should not be levied tax on the premium to purchase cover against this risk. Similarly, the 18% GST on medical insurance premium is proving to be a deterrent for the growth of this segment of business, which is socially necessary. Therefore, they have urged withdrawal of GST as mentioned above,” Gadkari’s letter read.
On August 8, Sitharaman said that the matter was in the realm of the GST council.
“Let the council take a call on medical insurance now that everyone has been heard on this. Prior to GST regime, every state levied taxes on the premiums collected on health insurance. The council comprises the finance ministers of the states who have two-third voting power, with the Centre having one-third power,” said Sitharaman.