STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Oil seed crushing MSME units raised serious concern in respect of their finished product edible oil put under Negative List by the Finance Department in respect of ‘VAT Remission to Industrial Sector of J and K’ due to which the common people of the State were paying higher cost for the purchase of edible oil whereas the almond being used by the elite class of the society has been put under zero per cent VAT.
In this regard, oil seed crushing MSME units held a meeting under the chairmanship of President Bari Brahmana Industries Association, Lalit Mahajan here on Saturday.
It is pertinent to mentioned here that the MSME units engaged in the manufacturing of edible oil using the oil seeds as their raw material for its extraction involve the manufacturing process as approved by the Industries Department and it is unjustified on the part of Finance Department to put the edible oil under Negative List which is discrimination with the MSME units manufacturing edible oil in the State, Mahajan said adding that Central Government has put the edible oil manufacturing units under Thrust Industries to promote the food processing industries in the country.
“In spite of repeated requests to the Finance Department to remove edible oil being produced by the oil seeds crushing units from the Negative List, no action has been taken by the department which we terms as discrimination with the said units,” Mahajan said. BBIA appealed to the Finance Minister, Haseeb A. Drabu and Minister for Industries and Commerce, Chander Prakash Ganga to remove edible oil being manufactured by oil seed crushing units from the Negative List.