Chandigarh, Sept. 30 -- The Punjab assembly on Monday unanimously passed the Punjab Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2025. Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema, who tabled the bill, said the legislation proposed to ensure uniformity with the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, as recently amended by the Finance Act, 2025. The provisions include redefining "Input Service Distributor" (ISD) to cover distribution of Input Tax Credit (ITC) for inter-state supplies on a reverse charge basis. They also introduce "unique identification marking" for certain goods under a track-and-trace mechanism, along with a penalty of Rs.1 lakh or 10% of the tax payable, whichever is higher, for non-compliance. For appeals involving penalties, tax payers will now have to deposit 10% of the penalty amount upfront. Other changes include exemptions for goods stored in Special Economic Zones or Free Trade Warehousing Zones before export or clearance to the domestic tariff area, restrictions on output tax adjustments if recipients fail to reverse ITC or pass on tax burdens, and an amendment to Section 17(5) clarifying that the term "plant and machinery" includes both terms. The Vidhan Sabha also passed five other bills, including the Seeds (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2025; the Punjab Right to Business (Amendment) Bill, 2025; the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2025; the Punjab Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and the Punjab Town Improvement (Amendment) Bill, 2025. Highlighting GST's adverse impact on Punjab, Cheema said the state's pre-GST revenue neutral rate (RNR) was 18.3%, significantly higher than the country's average of 14%. But following GST implementation, Punjab incurred a loss of Rs.1.11 lakh crore over eight years, while only receiving Rs.61,000 crore from compensation tax. The minister pointed out that many other states were also grappling with revenue losses due to GST, but were not being heard by the central government due to the BJP's majority....