Cloth merchants meet CM, seek exemption from GST

Several leaders from the cloth merchants associations have requested Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to bring pressure on the Centre to exempt Textiles from the GST purview since a majority of the poor and middle class families are living on the trade.

The leaders met the Chief Minister in Pragati Bhavan today and submitted a memorandum in this regard. They said the textiles sector was exempted from the tax earlier, but now under the GST five per cent tax is levied. They said GST taxation will adversely affect the trade and urged the Chief Minister to intervene and bring the matter to the notice of the Centre.

           

Responding to their plea, the Chief Minister said there should be an exemption for the textiles trade under the tax. He assured them that he would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this issue. The CM said he had already asked the Centre to exempt Textiles, Granite business, Two-Bed Room Houses Scheme, drinking and irrigation water schemes, Beedis from GST. He said the Centre has assured to consider these issues. He said he was confident that these matters will be solved in the GST Council meeting.

           

Among those who met the Chief Minister include Telangana Federation of Textiles Associations president Prakash Ammanabolu, vice-president Santosh Chowkani, joint secretary Sangameswar, treasurer Eswar Uppar, Secunderabad Cut-piece Cloth Merchants’ Association president Bhagat Ram Gupta, general secretary Cheere Srikanth, Hyderabad Cut-piece Cloth Merchants’ Assocation president Subhash Agarwal, Madina Market Assocation president Mohammed Ahmed and others. (NSS)