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Goods and Services Tax turns women’s dreams sour
Leaving aside the ongoing gender diversity push around the world, women are endowed with a unique trait that men can never beat: their indisputable love for shopping. If you think only women from rich and middle-class families have this trait, you are dead wrong. Even poor women do it, but within their budget limits.
Hyderabad: Leaving aside the ongoing gender diversity push around the world, women are endowed with a unique trait that men can never beat: their indisputable love for shopping. If you think only women from rich and middle-class families have this trait, you are dead wrong. Even poor women do it, but within their budget limits.
Then, what do top their shopping list? Invariably, it's sarees, other garments and of course gold. But unfortunately, women aren't relishing their shopping these days and the prime reason for their desolation towards their best habit is Goods and Services Tax (GST). Yes, that's right.
Tax on gold went up by two-fold from one per cent before the GST rollout to three per cent now and given the gold price at around Rs 2,980 a gram, the burden of the new indirect tax is pinching. In addition, there is five per cent GST on making charges or value addition.
"I came to buy a small earring for my daughter and they are charging GST on it. They say I need to pay about Rs 100 as tax for every gram I buy. Gold prices have gone through roof in recent years and added to that, this increase in tax. I don't think people like us will ever be able to buy gold," laments Jyothi, a homemaker from Uppal area in the city.
The tax burden will go up as the bill amount increases. A woman who bought two bangles worth Rs 1.2 lakh with her savings recently had to cough up Rs 3,774 for the new tax. Under the old tax structure, the tax would have been a little over Rs 1,000.
The fact of the matter is that majority of Indian women are home makers. They squeeze out some savings from whatever amount is allocated for running their homes. They also save cash gifts given by parents and relatives.
They use savings thus accrued for buying gold, garments and saris, as they don't want some of their shopping to be an additional burden on the family incomes. Therefore, paying huge taxes on purchases made by such savings has become painful for them.
"Women from middle-class and poor backgrounds adopt frugal lifestyles to save whatever amount is possible. They use such savings to buy gold and also clothes like sarees. It’s fact that gold is a safety net for poor families who use it whenever they are in financial problems.
Taxing such purchases doesn't augur well for the government," a gold trader in Secunderabad told The Hans India. Under GST, textile products including sarees attract a tax rate of five per cent while readymade garments like churidars which are priced at Rs 1,000 or below are also taxed at the same five per cent. However, GST rate increases to 12 per cent if the price goes beyond Rs 1,000.
"I bought a pattu saree for Rs 7,000 as there is a marriage in my family. I was shocked when I noticed that my sari attracted a GST of Rs 350. With that amount, I would have bought another saree for my daily use," rued Renuka Reddy (name changed), another homemaker.
It is a universal truth that Indian women love their sarees and never tire of talking about them. But Mrs Reddy now never tires of talking about GST and the amount she paid towards it. That shows how painful the new tax regime has turned out to be for homemakers.
"There is visible discontentment among people from lower and middle income families as prices on sarees have gone up by 8 to 10 per cent after the implementation of GST. Our sales have come down by almost 30 per cent. This is first time after the Independence that textiles are brought under tax net," Ammanabolu Prakash, president, Telangana State Federation of Textiles Association, told The Hans India.
Lamenting that the governments at the Centre and in the states did not come forward to remove the tax despite protests and strikes, he said textile traders are also facing hurdles as many of them are not conversant with computers which are essential for filing returns under GST.
According to rough estimates, there are over 35,000 textile traders in Telangana and an equal number in Andhra Pradesh, doing a cumulative annual business in excess of Rs 15,000 crore.
By P Madhusudhan Reddy
