GST Hike On Textiles Deferred In 46th GST Council Meet

The main agenda on hiking GST rate for textile to 12% has been deferred on the premise that it shall not be the best time to hike the GST rate as it shall impact the lower strata of buyers. Nevertheless, do decision has been taken on GST on footwear which is going to see a hike.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman said, "We retained the status quo on textile and decides to defer the hike in GST on textiles from 5 per cent to 12 per cent." The issue of GST rate on textile will be sent to the tax rate rationalization committee, which will submit its report by February, she added .

The textile industry has demanded a rollback of hiked GST rates which shall add to the burden of the masses with increased apparel footwear cost.

Sisodia- Deputy chief minister stated that the Delhi Government under the leadership of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal has always been in favour of keeping tax rates low. "I will raise the demand to withdraw the increased tax on textiles in GST council meeting on December 31. The Central Government should wake up and take note of the backbreaking inflation; they can't rub salt on the wounds of the poor like this,'' he said.

There is a view that amid the high inflation, the GST rate on textile at a higher rate of 12% will affect the common man immensely. The rate hike for the textile sector has been proposed to do away with some of the anomalies in the GST structure such as inverted duty structure etc. In the present regime, 5% tax up to Rs. 1000 garment is being levied.

Though the other measures of the government such as the PLI scheme has boosted the sector any hike on the GST will affect lakhs of small traders in the segment.

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