Good news for the traders and small business of the North Eastern India. The GST council have decided that small and medium businesses with an annual turnover of Rs 40 lakh will be exempt from paying the goods and services tax .

This will grately benefit the traders of the region as they are small and do not have more than 40 lakh annual turnover.

The GST Council also announced on Thursday that the turnover cap for the composition scheme — under which most small businesses pay only a 1 per cent tax —would be raised to Rs 1.5 crore from April 1. The earlier threshold was Rs 1 crore. Restaurants, however, pay a higher 5 per cent tax under the composition scheme.