Traders Demanded Withdrawal of 12% GST on Textiles and Footwear

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has claimed that instead of simplifying and rationalising the GST tax structure, the GST Council has made it as “most complicated GST law in India over the world” and much against the GST structure shown to CAIT by the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. PM’s announcement of Ease of Doing Business and One Nation-One Tax is being openly ridiculed.

CAIT President B.C. Bhartia and Secretary Praveen Khandelwal has said that in the cotton textile industry, even in the man-made textile industry, at the stage of manufacturing garments, sarees and all types of made ups, there was no inverted tax issue then why fabric and other cotton textile goods were brought under the 12 per cent bracket. Without having any understanding of the stages of the textile industry such a harsh decision will be a regressive step.

“Roti, Kapda & Makaan are three basic things of life. Bread has already become very expensive due to high rise in prices, buying a house is beyond the reach of a common man and the cloth, which was accessible, has also been made expensive by the GST Council, Bhartia and Khandelwal added.

The Central Government’s notification to increase the rate of GST on basic items like textiles and footwear from 5 per cent to 12 per cent is being opposed all over the country. CAIT has claimed, regarding this no consultation was done with any stakeholder of the country.

In this matter not only the Central Government but also the State Governments are completely guilty because these decisions have been taken unanimously in the GST Council and no one has opposed such an irrational decision. GST is being distorted continuously and the concept of “One Nation-One Tax” has been made a joke, CAIT said.

Traders body has demanded withdrawal of the increased rate of GST immediately. CAIT has said the officers have become autocratic and either the command of the responsible leaders has become lose or they are also involved in torturing the traders. Traders across the country will no longer tolerate this situation.

Further, CAIT has decided to launch a mega agitation against such arbitrariness. whereas, trade organisations of all types of trade, workers, employees associated with them will also participate in it.

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