The 49th meeting of the Council is being held after the presentation of the union budget earlier this month which offered to extend the 50-year interest free loan to states for another year to enable their capital spending. The Council is expected to discuss the issues that were on the agenda at its last meeting but could not be taken up.

However, the issue of taxation of gaming, casinos and horse facing is unlikely to figure in the next meeting. A ministerial panel which examined the taxation regime for these industries could not arrive at a consensus.

The Centre is keen to explore if the GST rate on cement could be lowered from the current 28%. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said earlier this month that a panel of officers will look into it. This, however, is unlikely to be taken up at the meeting on Saturday. The next meeting is expected to take up items for tax corrections which are already examined by the panel of officers. A few law related changes and some tax rate related changes are expected at the meeting.