A meeting of Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers of all the states of the country was held recently. The Finance Minister of West Bengal, Mr. Asim Das Gupta headed the meeting, where the Finance Minister of J&K, Mr. Abdul Rahim Rather also marked his presence.
Mr Rather said in the meeting that unfavorable conditions experienced by J&K state during the last few months had affected the growth rate of trade taxes drastically. It has fallen to 14 percent, which also was the result of global economic slowdown, particularly for the last two quarters of 2008-09, he added.
Emphasizing on the introduction of new regime of GST, Mr. Rather said that the Empowered Committee should seriously think about placing commodities like handicrafts, food grains as well as the services provided by the government and local bodies under exempted category.
A large number of poor artisans of the state, who are getting employment through the handicraft sector, need to be exempted from imposition of GST, added Mr Rather.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India