HYDERABAD: The ambiguity surrounding the Goods and Service Tax(GST) refuses to die down. This Diwali, take for example the story of K Raju, a roadside clay lamp seller at Ameetpet who claims to have paid 18 per cent Goods and Service Tax (GST) for the lamps he procured from a wholesale seller in Rajkot, Gujarat. The fact, however, is that there is no GST on clay lamps.
Every year Raju, along with eight others, visits Rajkot before Diwali to buy clay lamps on wholesale, and then sell them on the street corners of Hyderabad. In 2016, Raju and other sellers borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh from a money lender at a 3 per cent interest and bought 18,000 units of clay lamps and idols. He made a profit of Rs30,000 from Diwali sales.
This year too, Raju and his friends did the same. But for Rs1.5 lakh they could only procure 16,000 units -- a shortfall of 2,000 units in stock owing to the fraud. “Every year the prices go up by 5 to 10 pc, we do keep that in mind but this time the wholesaler charged us 18 pc claimed it to be GST,” says Raju, who is unaware that earthen pot and clay lamps are zero rated items under new regime. “How can there be tax on clay?” he wonders.
Another clay lamp seller at Sultan bazaar, P Manoj also had sourced his clay lamps and idols from Rajkot. “I do not know how this GST works. Sure I bought the lamps for a higher cost but I haven’t increased the rates as people then may not buy.” Manoj set up his road side stall on Saturday but is witnessing less sales. “Maybe it is the rains, there is still two days left for Diwali. The unsold items will have to be stocked and sold next year, “ he added.
Though the new tax regime has a provision for an Anti-Profiteering Authority to be formed, it has not come into effect yet. And till then, there aren’t many options for those cheated in the name of GST. “We have not come across any earlier instances of people being cheated within TS in this manner,” said Srinivas N, chairperson, Confederation of All Telangana Consumer Organisations (CATCO).