Reduce GST on all readymade, made-ups to five%: TG textile commerce physique

Voicing concern over GST Council’s determination imposing an 18% levy on clothes priced above ₹2,500, the Telangana State Federation of Textile Associations has appealed for a 5% levy on all readymade and made-ups no matter their price.

“We request the Council to impose 5% GST on all merchandise no matter price contemplating,” Federation president Ammanabolu Prakash mentioned. In assist, he cited how the textile and attire sector contributes about 2.3% of the GDP, accounts for round 13% of India’s industrial manufacturing and instantly employs greater than 45 million individuals, together with numerous girls and rural employees.

The determination to levy the next charge of GST on clothes priced above ₹2,500 creates a “sharp tax discontinuity between inexpensive and mid-priced clothes, is worth shock for shoppers and should result in [lower sales] volumes for the labour-intensive sector that staff hundreds of thousands,” he mentioned in a launch.

The steep 13 percentage-point further tax burden on shoppers will affect shopping for choices within the mid and upper-mid earnings segments, thus impacting the textile trade, Mr. Prakash mentioned. India’s readymade clothes market is estimated round $103.5 billion (2024) and anticipated to develop – making the home gross sales economically vital.

Volume discount in home gross sales would translate rapidly into decrease capability utilisation, layoffs and drop in earnings for hundreds of thousands of seamstresses, machinists and allied employees.