CAIT urges Centre to rationalise BIS standards, GST slab on footwear

New Delhi, March 20

Citing the concerns raised by the footwear industry as genuine, the Confederation of All India Traders has urged the Centre to rationalise the BIS standards and Goods and Services Tax on the footwear items.

Till December 31, 2021, footwears below Rs 1,000 used to attract 5 per cent GST. Starting 2022, the tax slab has been raised to 12 per cent for footwears falling in the Rs 1,000 range.

"India is a land of diversity where consumers range from an ordinary person to most affluent class and their purchase behaviour is more as per their economic strata and therefore they can't be governed by a single yardstick, and therefore any policy or tax imposition should be levied accordingly in order to provide equitable strength to everyone and minimising the chances of any tax evasion or not complying the rules and policies," said Secretary General of the traders' body Praveen Khandelwal.

"90 per cent of the people in India are consuming footwear of not above Rs 1,000 and out of which the largest population consume footwear of not more than Rs 500."

Having such a large variety of footwear trade, it is not possible to impose the same standards for all, the traders' body said.

"Sure, it's not possible and therefore the respective authorities should look into the imposition of both GST and BIS standards."

While expressing hopes that the issues facing the footwear will be resolved by talks, Khandelwal sought a meeting with both Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.