FICI Hails Revision of GST Rates for Cashew Industry

KOCHI: The Federation of Indian Cashew Industry (FICI), the apex body of India’s cashew industry, has hailed the revision of Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate for the cashew industry to five per cent from twelve per cent announced earlier.

The government has revised the GST rate to put cashew, cashew nut and allied products in the five per cent slab of the proposed GST. Earlier, the GST Council had announced the GST rate for cashew at twelve per cent.

FICI said the revision of rate to five percent would stand the cashew industry in good stead which is faced with problems in both domestic and international markets.

According to FICI Chairman P Somarajan, FICI and other associations, as well as the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India, had requested and made a representation to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the Finance Ministers of the cashew growing/ processing states for this reduction.

Presently India produces less than half of the raw nuts that the country requires and depends on imports to meet its processing and export requirements.