GST: Tea bodies hail Governments' decision

GUWAHATI, May 22: The Joint Forum of Assam Tea Planters’ Association (ATPA), North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) and Bharatiya Cha Parishad (BCP) hailed the decision of the GST Council for putting Tea in the 5% slab of GST, a press release said. The Joint Forum has also welcomed putting ‘Unprocessed green leaves of teas in the ‘Exempted list’.

Currently, the VAT Rate of Tea is subsisting at around 5-6.05% across all Indian States. Tea is highly price sensitive. Any increase in Tea prices as a consequence of high GST rate could have adversely affected the sustaibility and economic viability of the Tea sector and the large workforce that it supports. Tea is a common man’s beverage and is the second most consumed beverage in India after water.

The Joint Forum of the three Assam based tea producers associations expressed its gratitude to Union Fince Minister Arun Jaitley and Sate Fince Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma for putting tea in the 5% slab of GS1 and green tea leaves in the exempted list. The joint statement was released by APTA chairman Arun Thekedath, NETA chairman Manoj Jallan and BCP chairman Mrigen Jalan.