‘Reduce GST on effluent treatment job’

Tirupur: Textile dyeing units in the district on Thursday urged the Centre to reduce the goods and services tax (GST) on services provided by common effluent treatment plants to 5% from 12% in the coming budget.
In a memorandum submitted to the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, district Dyers’ Association president S Nagarajan said, “Considering the important role played by the common effluent treatment plants in environmental protection and water conservation, tax was exempted for their service in 2005 and 2011. But when GST was introduced, 18% tax was imposed on the service. Though it was later reduced to 12%, we have been insisting the government to bring it further down to 5%.”
Pointing out that the 12% service tax was non-refundable, he said hence the processing cost in the dyeing units had gone up by 3% to 4%. “As a result, the cost of garments manufactured in Tirupur is higher than that in countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, where there is no zero liquid discharge system in place.”