Slash GST rates, give fillip to agri: Trade bodies to FM
Ahead of presenting the revised budget next week, finance minister Palanivel Thiagarajan received memorandums from various agriculture, trade and industry bodies from the southern region on their expectations in a series of meetings at Chennai over the last two days.
Agrofood chamber of commerce and industry president S Rethinavelu said the government should promote “ridgeless cultivation” by helping farmers with small landholdings to come together and cultivate on 100 to 150 acres jointly and reap the benefits of scientific farming with latest technology. Farmers could be brought together for this model like the farm producers organisations, he said.
The chamber pressed for a boost for dairy farming and drumstick cultivation in the wake of their growing demand in the export segment as well. They pressed for district level ‘Agri-IT-Data Centre’ to study and maintain a record of the quantity of crops raised, productivity and details of the production and demand in India and globally. A well-equipped market committee with proper warehouses, insurance cover for crops damaged due to natural calamities, and setting up of pulses board are among their demand.
Tamilnadu Foodgrains Merchants Association Limited stressed reducing GST rates under 22 heads to zero and 5% from the existing 18% and 12%. President S P Jeyapragasam and secretary S V S S Velsekar also sought a waiver of GST on processes such as cleaning, categorizing, and value addition of farm produce, reforms in input tax credit, and making an advance ruling for individuals applying to everyone in the sector.
Tamilnadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry sought scrapping of the 18% and 28% GST slabs and fixing maximum at 15%. Its president N Jegatheesan opposed the proposed increase in GST rates for 243 items in the 5%, 8% and 12% slabs to 15%. The chamber also sought simplification of GST rules.
Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (Maditssia) president B Muruganantham sought relief package for MSME sector that was badly affected by the pandemic. Ministers M R K Panneerselvam, P Moorthi and T M Anbarasan were present at the pre-budget meetings.
