The GST court ruled today (Thursday) that turmeric transactions made at the primary level in Sangli Bazar Samiti will be duty free. The arbitral tribunal has agreed that turmeric is an agricultural product. The firm B Patil had appealed to arbitration.
Sangli Market Turmeric is the main market in the country with an annual turnover of Rs. A five percent GST tax was imposed on the purchase of turmeric from 2017. Traders insisted that the tax was not applicable as turmeric was not an agricultural product.
A hearing was held before Central Assessing Member Ashok Kumar Mehta and State Assessing Member Rajiv Kumar Mittal on GST. The arbitral tribunal accepted that intact turmeric was an agricultural product and removed the five percent tax on turmeric. However, further processing of the turmeric will be taxable if it is powdered.
The Sangli turmeric market is important and has an annual turnover of more than one billion rupees. The arbitration court’s decision to exempt turmeric transactions in the market will further boost the Sangli market, said Mahesh Chavan, secretary of the Market Committee.
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