GST hike ominous for smaller states: CPI
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, July 22 2022:
Apart from condemning hike of GST on certain items including food and essential commodities, CPI Manipur State Council has said that the Modi government's decision to hike GST rate is a step towards
making small states like Manipur poor forcibly.
According to CPI Manipur State Council secretary M Joykumar Luwang, Manipur is unable to establish big agro food factories due to being a landlocked state and accordingly many smallscale food industries are being opened.
Despite having raw materials, processed foods cannot be exported on large scale and hence most of the products are targeted for local consumption and processed accordingly.
However, the Modi government's hike of GST rate on food items by 5 percent will hit hard the small scale food industries and discourage those doing small scale industries just like farmers are unwilling to do farm activities today.
Hike of GST rate from 12 to 18 percent even on kitchen knife, spoon, plastic knife, water pump, LED lamp and drawing items will severely affect educated youth who are surviving on jobs in small scale industries, Joykumar Luwang added.