be pegged at 18 per cent telecom service providers currently attract 15 per cent service tax being an infrastructure service designated as an essential service under the essential services maintenance act 1968 and are availed of by the masses rajan mathews director general of cellular operators association of india coai said any increase in tax would have a direct impact on mobile phone bills of subscribers edible oils makers said they were confident the government would place the category in the 5 per cent gst bracket since it is a necessity product since edible oil is consumed by almost 99 per cent of the households it should logically fall in the lowest category of taxation under gst said cargill chairman siraj chaudhry however since around 7075 per cent of edible oil is imported the government can probably balance the import duty with gst in a way that consumers benefit he said krish iyer ceo of walmart india said finalising the rates now may help the country roll out gst by april next year with half the cpi basket at 0 per cent and majority of daily consumption essential items at 5 per cent it will keep inflation in check he said 1