Key Points
Ease of doing business for MSMEs: Some of the beverages, available at micro or small retail outlets, with reportedly low sugar content are iced tea, lemonade, coconut water, etc., in comparison to packed sweetened fruit juices, soft drinks, energy drinks, etc., which have relatively higher sugar content...
Ease of doing business for MSMEs: Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which represents around 8 crore traders in the country, on Monday urged finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to reduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on beverages which constitute almost 30 per cent of the total turnover of small retail outlets such as kirana shops, pan shops, general stores, hawkers etc...
Currently, GST and cess levied on beverages comes to 40 per cent which heavily blocks the working capital of small retailers, CAIT said..
If this is lowered rationally, it will increase the turnover of small shops which will yield more revenue to central and state governments, said CAIT National President BC Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal in a statement...
For beverages that are in the low and no-sugar category, this will reduce taxes, opening up capital for the retailers to make more purchases, increase sales and double their incomes..
