Understanding Goods and Services Tax Rates for India's Textile Industry
This article examines the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates applicable to India's textile sector, detailing the varying tax percentages for different products and machinery. It highlights the provisional nature of some rates and the industry's call for a harmonized 5% levy. The analysis also provides an overview of the historical tax framework for textiles and projects a reduction in average tax rates post-GST implementation, from approximately 20% to 18% for key inputs.
As of the latest updates, the definitive Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates for the textile sector are still awaiting official confirmation. Experts within the industry have advocated for a uniform 5% tax rate throughout the entire manufacturing process. Further clarity is necessary for the textile sector to accurately determine its tax obligations once GST is fully implemented. Preliminary rates for various products and materials utilized in textile manufacturing were announced following the initial day of the GST Council's fitment committee meeting in Srinagar. These items have been categorized and taxed as follows:
Items Subject to 12% GST
- Certain wooden products, including items like clothes hangers, spools, bobbins, sewing thread reels, and other turned wood components specifically designed for textile machinery.
- Finished goods constructed entirely from quilted or textile fabrics.
Items Subject to 18% GST
- Textile oils, excluding those containing petrol, diesel, or Aviation Turbine Fluid (ATF).
- Various finishing agents, such as dye carriers, substances that enhance the dyeing or fixing of colorants, as well as dressings and mordants.
- A broad range of machinery crucial for textile production, encompassing equipment for fiber preparation, spinning, doubling, or twisting yarns, reeling and winding operations, and machines that prepare textile yarns for subsequent use. This category also covers machinery for washing, cleaning, wringing, drying, ironing, pressing (including fusing presses), bleaching, dyeing, dressing, finishing, coating, or impregnating textile yarns, fabrics, or finished textile items. Additionally, machines for applying paste to base fabrics used in manufacturing floor coverings like linoleum, and equipment for reeling, unreeling, folding, cutting, or pinking textile fabrics are included.
Items Subject to 28% GST
- Lubricating oils and related preparations employed for the oil or grease treatment of textile materials. This excludes oils composed of 70% or more petroleum oils or those derived from bituminous substances.
- All finished textile products, such as travel cases, holsters, various types of bags (traveling, insulated food/beverage, toilet, rucksacks, handbags, shopping), wallets, purses, map cases, cigarette cases, tobacco pouches, tool bags, sports bags, bottle cases, jewelry boxes, powder boxes, cutlery cases, and similar textile-based containers.
Industry Impact Analysis
Historically, the textile sector has benefited from tax exemptions across its cotton production chain. Presently, Value Added Tax (VAT) is not applied to fabrics, although yarn and readymade garments are subject to VAT based on individual state rates. On average, machinery and chemical agents utilized in the textile industry have faced an approximate 20% tax burden nationwide. With the implementation of GST, the anticipated average tax rate for these items is projected to decrease to approximately 18%.