HYDERABAD: For those involved in recycling of e-waste, the 18 per cent Goods and Service Tax (GST) has resulted in a 30 per cent drop in business. Those from the e-waste management sector say there is no separate category for them and that ambiguity in classification has led to taxation under both, 18 per cent for scrap and 28 per cent meant for electronic goods.
“I source a 32-inch television set for recycling. The scrap is taxed at 28 per cent. But for an LCD monitor, it will be 18 per cent,” said Kiran K (name changed) who owns an e-waste management firm in the city. Thus, the electronic scrap will be bought at a price 25 per cent higher than the pre-GST rates and sold at a 15 per cent lesser price post the introduction of the tax, he explained.
Business is down by 25 to 30 per cent and the dealers hope for a rollback to pre-GST rate of 5 per cent. The last GST Council meeting, held in Hyderabad, had rolled back taxes on handlooms but e-waste recycling missed their attention. “It’s getting difficult to sustain the business. Those of us in the sector are thinking of forming an association to bring our concerns to the notice of the GST Council,” Kiran added.
“The 30 per cent loss we are facing is not just because of buying goods at higher rates. Those, from whom we source our scrap, are not registered under GST. So basically there is a drop in the collection of e-waste and, consequently, its recycling,” said Faizan Shiek, owner of NAP Recyclers India Limited, in the city. “It is not profitable to collect e-waste anymore and most of the e-waste will now end up at landfills,” he added.
With a drop in sourcing of e-waste, some recyclers are witnessing a drop even in the export of printed circuit boards (PCBs) for recycling. India does not have a dedicated PCB recycling plant and most of the PCBs are sent abroad for recycling. Hyderabad ranks fifth among the top e-waste generating cities in the country, according to a report by Assocham and Frost & Sullivan. The city generated 36,000 tonnes of e-waste in 2016 and the volume is expected to touch 1 lakh tonne by the end of 2018.
What is e-waste?
e-waste, typically, includes discarded computer monitors, motherboards, cathode ray tubes (CRT), printed circuit boards (PCB), mobile phones and chargers, compact discs, headphones. White goods such as liquid crystal displays (LCD)/plasma televisions, air-conditioners and refrigerators are also e-waste.