The Ministry of Textiles has received representations from the textile industry requesting the Centre to exempt textile jobs from service tax, and is examining it, according to a senior official.
“These are the recent representations we have received from the industry. We are examining it,” A Madhukumar Reddy, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, told while answering a question on service tax.
Earlier it was reported that while the GST rate of 5 per cent brought cheer to manufacturers makers of cotton textiles, the textile industry wants the government to lower the levy for manmade fibre (MMF) products. MMF fabric and yarn, dying and printing units as well as embroidery items would attract 18 per cent GST.
“It (GST) won’t impact (the industry). The excise duty was 14 per cent, plus there was CST and in some states, the VAT was 4 per cent. So cumulative impact was more than 18 per cent already,” he said.
“The synthetic weaving mills were only ruing the fact that there was a window where fibre neutrality (all fibres should be taxed at the same level) could have been achieved. For reasons of the special characteristics of our economy (use of cotton and natural fibres being higher than synthetics) (we could not do this as it) will impact the cotton and jute farmers and sericulturists. From the point of view of textiles, we consider that this (18 per cent GST) is not going to add to the cost of inputs,” he said.
Earlier, he told that the GST rate of 5 per cent on the textile sector has seen a lot of “positive response” from the industry. He briefed reporters about Textiles India 2017, an international exhibition to be held from June 30-July 2 at Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the event.
Representatives from various countries will participate in this event, and around 2,500 international buyers and 15,000 domestic buyers are likely to attend, he said.
Source: Times of India
