Raising GST on Textiles to 12% will be Modi govt's blunder: Amit Mitra
Kolkata: Principal Chief Advisor to the Chief Minister and Finance Department Amit Mitra on Sunday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointing out that he will be committing another blunder on January 1st, 2022 by raising GST on textiles from 5 to 12 per cent which will lead to the loss of 15 million jobs and closing 1 lakh units. He urged the Prime Minister to convene a meeting of GST council and reverse the decision.
"Modi Govt will commit another BLUNDER on Jan 1st. By raising GST on Textiles,5% to 12%, 15 MILLION JOBS WILL BE LOST & 1 lakh units will CLOSE. Modi ji, CALL a GST COUNCIL MEETING NOW & REVERSE DECISION before SWORD OF DAMOCLES FALLS ON HEADS OF MILLIONS OF COMMON PEOPLE, " Mitra tweeted on Sunday.
Two days back he had appealed to Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to reverse the decision as it would also adversely affect
the GST collection as a whole. He had condemned the decision to increase the GST on several textile products unilaterally without proper discussions in the forum of the GST Council.
In a video conference, Mitra had pointed out how the textile industry — involving Rs 5.4 lakh crore economy
and ensuring employment of nearly 4 crore people only in the manufacturing sector excluding cotton and jute farmers — in the country
has to pay the penance for "another hasty" decision of the Centre of increasing the GST by 7 per cent.
Mitra had maintained that the Centre has put forward the theory of correcting inverted duty structure addressing
the synthetic or manmade fibre sector for which the
GST is being reduced to 12 per cent from 18 per cent. But the sector involves only around 20 per cent of the total industry while the remaining is all about natural fibre.
Mitra had pointed out that in Bengal—Metiabruz in the southern fringes of the city alone witnesses a business worth Rs 20,000 crore. Besides procurement by retail chains, garments from Metiabruz get exported to Jharkhand and Bihar. Similarly, there are 70,000 and 55,000 handlooms in Fulia and Sundergarh respectively.
