GST confusions abound in co-ops; urea to get costlier

As the date of GST is getting closer, cooperatives in the country are getting nervous and confused about the whole thing. The govt is making more noise than addressing realities on the ground, some of them complain.

Less than a fortnight remains and the govt is yet to come out with the GST Notification- a must for calculating the cost of products. Arbindo Roy, Marketing Director of IFFCO puts it succinctly “what we know today is from newspapers and tv channels which may or may not be exaggerated”.

Before July 1 all the cooperatives which are selling fertilizer or milk or sugar need to register themselves in the new GST system otherwise they cannot carry on the old business. Uncertain of the situation Biscomaun Chairman says ” we do not get any drift of it but we are careful and have put advt in the newspapers asking everybody doing business with Biscomaun to apply for GST registration”.

The GST registration is a complicated process as one has to fill up more than 37 forms. A dealer of urea needs to fill up three forms every month detailing his sales, added Arbindo Roy. For large cooperatives it may be easy but for those which are smaller and located in remote areas it may be a herculean task. He fears that may opt out saying its better to keep off all these formalities, underlined Roy who has been busy past three months asking everybody to take a plunge in GST regime.

“Even now in Gurugram we are organizing a training of all our account offices spread across the country on the issue of GST; it’s a huge exercise and I can safely say the deadline of July 1 is rather ambitious”, Mr Roy conceded.

Besides confusion over the GST, what is obvious is the increase in the rates of fertilizer once the GST is rolled out. Biscomaun Chairman says” I have already informed our farmer-brothers that urea per bag would get costlier by at least Rs 30”.

Roy said there would be a GST charge of 12 per cent which comes around Rs 600 additional charge per tonne. But DAP rate would get revised with an additional cost of Rs 3000 per tones-per bag it means Rs 150, he added. “Not only that the DAP manufactured here and those imported would have different rates of GST operating on them”, added Roy. “What we are doing now is net-practice so far its roll-out is concerned, Roy underlined.

But most of all what bothers cooperative leaders is the deteriorating financial condition of farmers, who have to bear additional cost of agri-inputs even though they are reeling under a host of problems. IFFCO’s Roy feels its sure to lead to a slump in the sale.

The farm scenario of the country is bleak as there has been a sharp fall in the rates of several agri-produce such as dalhan and oilseeds. The specter of raised urea price is sure to haunt the farmers, felt several cooperators.