TNFMAL seeks to lower GST on food items

MADURAI: With the 48th GST council meeting scheduled to be convened in the middle of this month, members of the Tamil Nadu Foodgrains Merchants Association Limited (TNFMAL), Madurai have sought the government to lower the GST on several commodities and also to make amends to the taxation system.

Levying of tax must be only based on a product or a commodity and not with branding or types of packaging. Until the previous GST council meeting, tax on essential commodities, including rice, pulses, flour and millets were levied, be it branded or unbranded, by filing affidavit. But, currently, the authorities are taking penal action against stakeholders for not filing the disclaimer affidavit, SVSS Velshankar, president, TNFMAL, Madurai said on Thursday.

The stakeholders were also penalised even for minor clerical mistakes, even though the correct GST number and other details were mentioned in the e-way bill.

Difficulties while transporting goods tend to be a problem as they had to print e-invoice and e-way bill separately. Sometimes, the Unique Invoice Reference Number (INR) on e-way bill could not be generated. Citing this reason, the authorities were imposing a penalty of Rs 20,000.

More importantly, diesel and petrol should be brought under the GST ambit. The ceiling for e-way bill should be increased to Rs 2 lakh.

Moreover, the 18 per cent GST on food products -‘ready to cook and ready to eat,’ which were becoming popular nowadays as most of the women were office-goers, should be lowered to five per cent.

Under the list of bakery products, bun was already exempted from taxation and similarly, roast rusk, which’s under the five per cent GST slab, should also be exempted. Moreover, he said butter and biscuits, which attract 12 and 18 per cent GST, should be reduced to 5 per cent, he added.