Odisha seeks exemption of handloom, handicraft from GST

Livelihoods of more than 350,000 artisans and their families are at stake

Odisha has raised the demand for keeping handloom and handicrafts out of the ambit of the goods and serviced tax (GST).

The state’s finance minister, Shashi Bhushan Behera, had proposed this at the meeting of the GST Council in New Delhi on Saturday. Keeping the two products out of the GST’s purview would protect the livelihood of weavers and artisans in the state, Behera said.

At present, handloom products such as Sambalpuri, Bomkei, Maniabandha, and Tussar saris manufactured by weavers are exempt from tax. It’s the same for handicrafts goods like appliqué, stone works, woodwork, terracotta products, patta paintings and tribal crafts. 

In Odisha, the livelihood of more than 350,000 weavers and artisans’ families depends on it.

Odisha has also proposed the lowest GST slab of five per cent on tendu leaves to support the livelihood of millions of leaf pluckers in tribal areas.