Textile traders in Telangana have launched a postcard campaign protesting the proposed hike in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on textiles and certain apparels from January 1.
They bear the stamp of ‘Save Textile Business, Roll Back Increase in GST’, postcards addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal and the Chief Secretary of the Office of the GST Council Secretariat. ,
“We are expecting 40,000-50,000 postcards to be sent from across the state,” said Prakash Ammanbolu, leader of the Telangana State Federation of Textile Associations. Several member-associations like the Secunderabad Cloth Merchant Association, which posted 3,000 letters a day, are with the campaign, the rest will send postcards in the next 2-3 days, he said.
Expressing concern over the more than two-fold increase in GST on textiles and clothing from 5-12%, he said the change would affect all those in the textile business, be it wholesalers or retailers. Notably, it will hurt small shops and their customers in semi-urban and rural areas, as the government has decided to levy 12% on clothing priced below ₹1,000.
The decision to increase the levy is only bound to make matters worse for the textile trade, whose business was “severely affected” by the pandemic. Adding to the concern is Omicron, a new form of the coronavirus. A higher rate of tax will also block more working capital as the wholesale clothing business is a credit-oriented business. From 3-4 months ago, the deadline for receiving payments from retailers has been extended to 6-8 months after the pandemic, Mr Ammanbolu said, adding that higher levies can also lead to theft.
He said Telangana had 75,000-1 lakh garment shops, both wholesale and retail, of which about 80% are small shops.
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