The Federation of Sweets & Namkeen Manufacturers on Friday demanded parity in goods and services tax (GST) rates on branded and non-branded snacks.

Share Market Live

NSE

At present 12 percent GST is charged on branded snacks, while on non-branded products it is only 5 percent, and the federation wants it to be brought down to 5 percent.

"This anomaly has been increasing the complexities for traders and encouraging unhealthy competition. Some large big players have already started producing non-branded snacks today to take advantage of the tax benefit," federation's treasurer Firoz Naqvi told reporters here.

"So there should be equal GST on both branded and non-branded snacks," he said.

Naqvi said a the federation is organizing a world sweets and snacks convention here from January 9-10, which will have around 3,000 delegates from the US, Germany, Turkey, China etc attending it.

First Published:Jan 4, 2019 10:23 PM IST