A delegation of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Friday called on Finance Minister Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari.
The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary Finance Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Chairman J&K Bank Parveez Ahmad, Chairman CII Saddam Zaroo, Post Chairman Rahul Sahai and Raju Choudhary, Vice Chairman Rajesh Sharma, Zonal Head Srinagar Khurshid Dar and other senior officers of the government and CII.
The representatives of CII apprised the minister about various issues faced by the industries in the state and sought the intervention of the minister in resolving these.
The delegation urged the government to reduce the GST rate on almond kernels from 12 percent to 5 percent. They said after the implementation of GST, all other similar nuts category and dried fruits like raisins, cashew kernels and walnuts were initially taxed at 12 percent but later on taxed at 5 percent except almond kernels.
The delegation of CII further appealed the minister to consider the invoice value for calculating the GST rate in hotels and also requested that the GST be taxed at not more than 12 percent stating that the current rate is 28 percent. They said the lack of clarity around a key term for calculating the GST rates for hotels, is spelling trouble for consumers.
While stating that the government has said that hotels with ‘declared tariffs’ of Rs 7500 and above will charge 28-percent GST, CII representatives said that the term ‘declared tariff’ is unclear as hotels could declare new seasonal tariffs several times a year and rates may vary with each season.
They appealed the government to provide clarity and consider invoice value for calculating GST rates in hotel.