Handicraft merchants of Udaipur have protested against 28% GST levied on handicrafts.

In a press meeting on Friday, handicraft merchants of Udaipur raised their voices against 12 to 28 percent GST levied on handicraft articles. On one hand government is encouraging handicraft business, there on the other hand raising GST slab is posing to be a threat on the business, retorted the merchants. The dual attitude of government is likely to result in unemployment of a number of handicraft workers.

Businessman Gajendra Bhansali said that Former CM Vasundhara Raje had imposed 5 percent VAT on handicraft business 2 years back which, too, was opposed by the merchants. As of now, GST of 12, 18 and 28 percent has been imposed on handicraft items which are on a much higher side.

Imdad Hussain mentioned that Udaipur has made a name in the field of wooden toys, but now government is trying to put an end to this industry as well. A number of businessmen who have declared that they will oppose GST and give a notice to Collector against Central and State Government are Pushpendra Parmar, Govind Soni, Lakshman Shah, Omprakash, Subhash Gupta and Virendra Singh. Pramod Chhaparwal of Saheli Palace Handicrafts said that handicraft aticles are not basic utility items, people buy them for the love of art and as souvenirs. With 28 percent GST, the sale of handicrafts is most certainly going to suffer and handicraft showrooms might soon need to close down resulting in unemployment and other losses.

Devendra Javalia of National Handicrafts said that a miniature painting needs a hard work of 7 days whereas a fine-art miniature takes 15 days to complete. GST will increase the selling price of paintings and as a result people might refrain from buying. This will also impact the export business. Artists are now giving up on their talent since they haven’t received any encouragement from government and are picking up other fields of work. If GST is not withdrawn, the remaining artists might be forced to give up, too, resulting in sacrifice of art to GST, opined Javalia.

Source : bhaskar.com