Keeping in mind the effect of the pandemic and the welfare of workers relying on the two sectors, the Centre should cancel the GST hike, KTR said.

The Telangana government on Sunday appealed to the Centre to repeal the hike of 7 percent GST on textiles and cloth industries. Telangana Minister for Industries and IT Minister KT Rama Rao said that the Centre should unburden the GST on the two sectors, which faced adverse effects from the coronavirus pandemic. KTR, in his letter to Union Minister Piyush Goyal, appealed to repeal the GST hiked by 7 percent and now pegged at 12 percent.

The minister said that the GST was hiked from existing 5 to 12 percent with a 7 percent rise on the textiles and cloth sectors. It will only burden the lakhs of employees and reduce income, he said. Keeping in mind the effect of the pandemic and the welfare of workers relying on the two sectors, the Centre should cancel the GST hike, KTR said.

The minister urged the Centre to consider its previous decision taken in GST Council meeting on May 18, 2017 that no burden should be levied on textiles and the cloth industries. He further appealed to increase tax based exemption to the businessmen in these two sectors from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.

As the agriculture, handloom and textile sectors in the country have been providing employment to the people, the burden of GST rise will be unbearable and the Centre should immediately cancel it, he said.