Kerala has urged the Centre to urgently ‘‘re-examine’‘ the changes made in the modalities in the imposition of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on essential commodities such as rice, wheat and pulses pointing out that it will have a negative impact on the family budgets of a vast section of the population.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sought his urgent intervention to ensure that the common man was not put to further hardship at a juncture when high inflation rates were prevailing.
The decision of the 47th meeting of the GST Council is that when commodities such as food grains, flour, pulses and cereals are ''pre-packaged and labelled'', they will become liable for GST.
Kerala Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal had already conveyed the reservations of the State government at the meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on implementing the GST rate revision without a detailed study.
Kerala had also conveyed its concerns to the convener of the GoM on November 29, 2021. Further, the decision would adversely impact small shop keepers and customers as well, Mr. Vijayan said.
Many small shop keepers and millers ''pre-pack'' and keep the items ready for sale so that the customers can readily purchase them off the shelf. Such pre-packing was a common practice and the present changes would have an adverse impact on a large number of ordinary customers, Mr. Vijayan said.
