Bhopal: Even as Khadi has been exempted from GST, its sale has fallen by almost 40% since the implementation of the new tax regime. Khadi products, including readymade dresses and fabric have failed to attract customers as even on Gandhi Jayanti this year, its sales failed to pick up. Despite heavy discount, the sale of Khadi products remained sluggish as against the sales witnessed last year on the occasion.
Talking to Free Press, Khadi Gramoudyog Emporium, Ravishanker Nagar, manager Manoj Jain said, “ Though there is no tax on Khadi, but people are confused and they are still under the impression that the its products are also attracting tax under GST. I think it is happening due to lack of publicity.”
“And due to this, our sales are down by 40% in two months including August and September. Every year we used to get good response on Gandhi Jayanti but this year it’s not so. Last year we sold Rs 1.48 lakh worth Khadi products on October 2, but last year the sale was just Rs 1.70 lakh, ” Jain informed.
“Our emporium was launched on October 2 last year at MP Nagar, so we got huge response. But this year the things have changed. Last year we sold out Khadi stuffs of Rs 2.5 lakh on Gandhi Jayanti only but this year we could only sell of Rs 1.64 lakh. I think, it happened due to the mentality of people. There is no GST on Khadi but people are still thinking that it comes under GST. We have even given advertisement in newspapers regarding this,” said S N Thakur, manager Manager of Khadi Gramoudyog Emporium, MP Nagar.
Similarly, manager of Khadi Gramodyog Emporium at Malviya Nagar, New Market, Pawan Kumar Noriya said, “After the demonetisation and GST, the sale of Khadi products has gone down. Even our old stock Kabira Brand has not been sold out till now. We got good response of on the Gandhi Jayanti this year. Apart from 20 % + 10 % discount , this year we gave 5 % additional discount on Khadi Stuff especially on Gandhi Jayanti.”
