No GST on items sold by Kudumbasree, small stores says Kerala Finance minister

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], July 20 (ANI): Amid growing protest over the imposition of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on essential commodities, Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal said that the state shall not impose Goods and Service Tax (GST) on items sold by Kudumbashree and small stores.
The tax will not be imposed on loose packets or items sold by Kudumbashree and other entities sold in 1 or 2 Kilogram packets.
"The state will not impose GST on items sold by Kudumbashree and small stores in one or two kg packets or loose. Even if this leads to any issues with the Centre," Balagopal said in Kerala Assembly yesterday.
The Finance Minister also mentioned that the government had already written to the Centre and chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had written a letter again. The minister also assured that the small traders will be considered so that they don't face any difficulties.
"We have given a letter earlier and yesterday CM has also given a letter.We are not going to implement it in a way it will affect the small-scale traders and manufacturers," he added.
The finance minister's statements came in response to a member's question in the assembly.
Kudumbashree is a poverty eradication and women empowerment programme implemented by the State Poverty Eradication Mission (SPEM) of the Government of Kerala.
The women's self-help group It is considered one of the largest women empowerment projects in the country. It's engaged in ventures such as running of small-scale food processing units, and various others.
Chief Minister Vijayan had on Tuesday written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to review the decision of the GST council to levy 5 per cent GST on pre-packaged and labelled food items including cereals, pulses and flour.
Necessary steps should be taken to re-examine the changes so that the common man is not subject to further hardships, especially at a time when the inflation rate remains high, wrote the chief minister.
These are essential commodities that form a substantial part of the common people's consumption budget. The new decision is likely to have a negative impact on the family budget of the middle-class people, who are already bearing the brunt of high inflation, the chief minister wrote.
Under the revised Goods and Services Tax that has come into effect, Pre-packaged and labelled pulses, and cereals like rice, wheat, and flour (atta) will now attract GST at the rate of 5 per cent when branded and packed in a unit container.
Other items such as curd, lassi, and puffed rice too would attract GST at the rate of 5 per cent when pre-packaged and labelled.
The decision to hike GST on these items were taken in the recently held 47th GST Council meeting in Chandigarh.
A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document put out by the Ministry of Finance defines "pre-packaged" as a commodity that without the purchaser being present is placed in a package of whatever nature, whether sealed or not, so that the product contained therein has a predetermined quantity.
It is also clarified that a single package of these items [cereals, pulses, flour) containing a quantity of more than 25 Kg or 25 litre would not fall in the category of a pre-packaged and labelled commodity for the purposes of GST and would therefore not attract GST. (ANI)