The general secretary of the Posta Bazar Merchants Association, Biswanath Agarwal, said they had not yet seen a government circular on the matter. “There is no clarity regarding the collection of GST on packaged atta. We opposed the government’s decision. We will know the process on Monday,” Agarwal said.
However, any agricultural or dairy product, if sold in bulk or packaged in front of customers, will continue to be exempt from the GST. Previously, only branded packaged rice fell under GST. From now on, all unbranded and pre-packaged rice, rice flour and wheat flour will be subject to the GST.
Rashmi Kyal, owner of Sanwariya, a grocery store on Jessore Road, said: “We don’t keep unbranded wheat. So the products we get are charged by the supplier. I am not aware of any circular to this effect. , I don’t have any specifics on the process for tracking the sale of unbranded and pre-packaged items.”
The GST is a one-time indirect tax levied by the central government. It was introduced on July 1, 2017, and states were guaranteed compensation for lost revenue until June 2022, resulting from the rollout of the GST.
GST officials said on Sunday that branded food products, like atta, already attract GST. Unbranded products, however, were not. “Perhaps a store owner or online store was selling pre-packaged sealed atta to a consumer. As the product was unmarked, it did not attract GST. It will now fall under the net of the TPS,” a plant official said. excise.
According to the government notification, products like paneer, curd, lassi and buttermilk will also be subject to 5% GST, as will puffed or ripened rice, threshed or chira rice, dried rice or khoi, sugar coated rice or murki and rice flour, which is often used in many Bengali homes.
Most of the puffed and threshed rice sold in the Bengal market comes in sealed, unbranded packets. Rice flour is also sold in sealed, unbranded packets.