Cong slams Centre, says GST hike on textiles deferred due to Assembly polls

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], January 2 (ANI): Congress has slammed the Centre's decision to defer its decision of hiking the Goods and Services Tax on textiles from the existing 5 per cent to 12 per cent, and said that the move has been made only until the counting of votes in the upcoming Assembly elections.

The GST Council on Friday decided to defer the tax rate hike on textiles from 5 per cent to 12 per cent. The new GST rate on textiles was scheduled to be implemented from January 1, 2022.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Congress National spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said, "The first commodity is clothes, readymade apparel that had the GST of 5 per cent has been increased to 12 per cent. When the finance ministers of our states objected to the move, then the decision has been deferred till February 28. It is only until the counting of votes in the upcoming assembly elections."

 "The GST has been increased on footwear from 5 per cent to 12 per cent. The increase is applicable on footwear worth lesser than Rs 1,000. The third is Fast Moving Consumer Goods according to which the prices of oil, soaps, shampoo etc will increase by 10 per cent. All the companies are increasing the prices but the Central government is a mute spectator," he added.

 Vallabh hit out at the government's move to increase the charges applicable at ATM on transactions beyond the permissible limit of free transactions from Rs 20 to Rs 21, as per a notification of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) dated June 10, 2021.

 Effective from January 1, 2022 banks are permitted to charge Rs 21 per transaction if a customer exceeds the permissible free limits, instead of the earlier rate of Rs 20 per transaction. (ANI)