There is a possibility of a hike in the rates of certain finished goods with the arrival of the government’s amended duty structure on them as per which finished goods attract lower rates than the raw materials. The amended provisions could affect mobile phones, textiles and a few other goods categories.
The government is already burdened with the liability to pay Rs. 25,000 crore as refunds of the taxes already paid by the taxpayers on raw materials. This imbalance between the tax rate of inputs (raw materials) and the tax rate of outputs (finished goods) is called an inverted duty structure.
As per the new tax regime, taxpayers are allowed to claim a refund on the taxes paid by them on raw materials provided that the tax rates of finished goods are less than the tax rates of raw materials used.
The refund claimed by the taxpayer is often delayed due to the complete validation process after which only the claim shall be passed by the administration. Much of the refund demanded by the taxpayer comes from the lower tax slabs i.e. 5% to 12%.
The government could make adjustments by increasing the tax rates of the finished goods and also lowering the tax rates of the input tax credit.
Currently, the GST rates on mobile phones 
Check out the GST rate on mobile phones, chargers and its accessories along with HSN code in India. The mobile phone HSN code is 8517 along with 12% GST rate. Read more (finished product) are 12% but the tax rates of raw materials used are 18%, on the other hand, finished textile goods have 5% duty and raw materials are taxed at 12%.
Several industry associations raised their voices against this imbalance for quite a few months. Still, there are various goods that have lower taxes on finished products as compared to the raw materials used in making some of them are mobile phones, footwear, fabrics, man-made yarn, ready-made garments fertilizers, tractors and pharma equipment.
The issue was all set to conclude with a final decision in the upcoming 39 GST Council Meeting 
The upcoming 39th GST council meet may discuss states’ compensation, tax evasion, duty structure, etc. Also, the members will review the interest on delayed payments. Read more on 14 March but the only hurdle is a widespread corona-virus that has hiked up the prices of raw materials and finished products simultaneously, a tax official said.
