The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, at its meeting in Srinagar on Thursday, approved rates for about 1,200 items, boosting the chances of a July 1 roll-out and also sending a signal to the industry to be ready for the indirect tax regime. Inabid to ensure that the GST was noninflationary, the Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising representatives of other states, kept more than 81 per cent of the items in the tax bracket of 18 per cent orlower. “We have approved rates for 1,211 items… Six categories are yet to be finalised.This will be taken up tomorrow (Friday), along with services,” said Jaitley. The complete list of the rates for these items was released late at night.Friday will be the second day of the 14th meeting of the Council.On Thursday, it also approved eight of nine GST rules, sending one to the legal committee for vetting. Taking into consideration food consumed by the poor, food grain and milk have been exempted from taxes.Cereals