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An industry body representing biscuit manufacturers in the country has sought reduction of GST on biscuits to 12 per cent from 18 per cent.
The Indian Biscuit Manufacturers’ Association Secretary General KP Mohan Das told BusinessLine that nearly 1 million jobs will be lost if the government does not help the industry to reduce the hardship. “Apart from the high level of GST, periodic escalation of prices of raw material has hit us hard,” Mohan Das said.
He said the SME segment in the industry constitutes about 40 per cent of the total market and price escalations hurt the segment most. He pointed out that it is a highly price sensitive market and hence any cost increases cannot be passed on to the consumers. The industry employs about 7 million workers. Mohan Das said the price of maida had gone up by about 30 per cent but the manufacturers have not increased the prices of biscuits. “We don’t want a major decrease in GST rate as we are aware of the revenue shortfall such measures can lead to. But a nominal decrease in the rate to 12 per cent will sustain our operations for sometime and avoid any job losses,” he said.
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