It has decided not to levy the 2 per cent tax deducted at source (TDS) on cash payments above Rs 1 crore made through Agricultural Produce Market Committees.
Over the years, start-ups are struggling more to garner funds as they pass the elementary stages of growth.
Experts said if the slowdown, and subsequent weakness in GST mobilisation, continued, it would curtail the Centre's resources to a considerable extent in the current financial year.
This should augur well for the rabi crops as delayed withdrawal will leave enough moisture in the soil for early sowing.
Farmers should be encouraged into crops needing less of water, while ensuring a market for what they sow, said ICAR's head.
The subsidy will be credited to bank accounts of farmers against cane price dues and are compliant with WTO norms. This will benefit millions of farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The dichotomy between richer and poorer states is largely in consonance with the diversity in state level disease burden in the country.
The slowdown in sowing is mainly because of the delayed onset of the southwest monsoon and its slow progress in June.
However, the areas under paddy - the biggest cereal grown during the kharif season - continue to be less than last year, mainly due to delayed onset of rains and also on account of shift towards the more lucrative maize.
Recent data from market analytics firm Nielsen shows that the rural market in the country's 630,000-odd villages is pulling down the overall FMCG business.
Credit to priority sectors as well as small and medium industries will be discussed to find ways to accelerate economic growth.
Officials said good rain in August - though it might not improve acreages much for most crops except urad, moong, and paddy - would help in improving yields in the crops already planted.
Low rain coupled with the fact that maize prices in the open market have surged from around Rs 15-16 a kg to almost Rs 25 this year have forced farmers to turn to this crop.
Maharashtra and Delhi lead the pack of states in terms of absolute number, with 142,425 and 125,937 closed companies, respectively.
Till July 26, kharif crops have been sown in around 68.87 million hectares, which is 6.43 per cent lower than the area covered during the same period last year.
Revenue foregone on account of corporation tax exemptions is estimated to grow by 16 per cent in 2018-19 (FY19) versus 8.7 per cent in the previous year and 12 per cent in 2016-17, show the Budget documents.
The high-level panel also asked the government to work towards re-orienting subsidies in a targeted manner from the crop sector to the non-crop sector and redesign the electronic National Agriculture Market.
The groups, including those associated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's parent organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have also threatened a big nationwide agitation if growth of illegal GM crops isn't checked.
Nirmala Sitharaman has designed the revenue mix in such a way that while Centre's share in taxes would grow a massive 25 per cent, states' share would grow a dismal 6 per cent.
Consumption of petrol and diesel will contribute more than half of the Centre's exclusive share in GST in FY20, reports Abhishek Waghmare