The GST on many items including on handmade products will eventually kill entrepreneurship, as a means of living for the many including uneducated people, housewife s retired professionals. That too the GST on some of the handmade products like brass the rate is an astonishing 28%. Its obvious that it is not the big industrials making and selling handmade items, but small businesses, people who are not employable, retired professionals, house wife, doing something for their daily living.
Here are some GST rates for handmade items and codes:
GST on HS Code 74199930 - Articles Of Brass ---- 28%
GST on HS Code 76169990 - Other ---- 18%
GST on HS Code 73269099 - Other ----18%
Some of the above category had no tax applied before. Than the obvious question arises why suddenly such astonishing rates are applied to handmade items? Unless sole aim is to destroy made in home, made in india concept and encourage Chinese industry to capture that market place?
Here are some of the sectors worst effected
Handmade paper industry, Handmade gifts industry, Handmade rugs and textiles industry which employs the maximum number of people.
There are widespread protests in the handmade industry like the ongoing indefinite hunger strike called by the Gramma Seva Sangha seeking zero percent tax on hand-made products, which has been called off after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah assured protestors that he would take up the matter at the next Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council meeting.
Prasanna of Gramma Seva Sangha said, “After much hue and cry, the government has exempted khadi products, but tax is still being levied on handmade products. This is atrocious as the tax will discourage manufacturers of such products from competing in the market place as the prices of handmade products are already high. We will continue the agitation till the government addresses our issue.”
The hunger strike against GST on handmade products started in the city from October 14 and had the support of eminent personalities like Shyam Benegal, Ashish Nandy, Uzramma and Girish Karnad as all of them thought it to be a legitimate demand and were of the view that levying tax on such products will hamper the marketing organisation of the village poor.
