Malayali tea-time snacks fall under 18% GST due to classification issues
Thiruvananthapuram: Several traditional Malayali snacks, including pazhampori (banana fritters), ada, unda, and undam pori, have been placed under the 18% Goods and Services Tax (GST) bracket due to the lack of a specific Harmonised System of Nomenclature (HSN) code.
According to Kiran S Palakkal, president of the Bakers Association of Kerala (BAKE), many regional delicacies, despite their short shelf life of less than 24 hours, are subject to high GST rates due to classification complexities in the taxation system.
Biju Prem Shankar, Chief Operating Officer of Kochi-based Fresh Products, explained that businesses manufacturing snacks must individually seek tax clarifications. "Only GST-paying companies can petition for classification changes, not associations," he stated. Fresh Products managed to get tax rulings on certain items, such as unniyappam (classified under 'sweet meat' and taxed at 5%) and chips (taxed at 12% under 'fried namkeen snacks').
However, the taxation disparities persist. Similar products sold at restaurants are taxed at only 5% under service goods, while those sold by manufacturers are subjected to higher rates. The variation in recipes and names across regions adds to the confusion.
Calls for a more uniform GST framework have been ongoing. Last year, Coimbatore-based restaurateur D. Srinivasan raised concerns over the inconsistent taxation of food items, citing cases where a plain bun is tax-free, but adding cream increases its tax to 18%.
Industry representatives argue that simpler and more consistent tax regulations would benefit both businesses and consumers, ensuring that traditional food items do not bear an undue financial burden.
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11 more bodies retrieved from Arunachal accident site
Itanagar (PTI): Eleven more bodies were retrieved on Saturday from the deep gorge in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district, where a mini-truck on which 22 labourers from Assam were travelling fell, an official said.
With this, 17 bodies have been recovered from the accident site, Anjaw's deputy commissioner Milo Kojin said.
He said three more bodies will be brought out on Sunday.
The operation, being conducted by a joint team of the NDRF and Army, resumed at 6 am.
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"The retrieval process was extremely difficult because of the treacherous terrain, and the gorge is very deep," Kojin said.
The operation was suspended around 4 pm due to low visibility and will be resumed on Sunday morning, he said.
"One person is still missing, and a search operation will be carried out tomorrow," he added.
The accident happened on the evening of December 8, around 40 km from Hayuliang towards Chaglagam in the district. On the evening of December 10, one survivor managed to climb out of the gorge and reach a nearby Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) labour camp, following which the authorities were alerted.
Six bodies were recovered from the gorge on Friday and handed over to their families on Saturday.
