Tea Trader Demand On Extension

The Tamil Nadu Minister for Commercial Taxes, Mr S.N.M. Ubayadullah, assured the members of the tea trade that the Government will examine the sector's demand on extension of one per cent VAT levied at first point of sale to all teas sold in the auctions. No auction centre in the country except Tamil Nadu levied tax on sale of teas meant for exports and that such levy made exports uncompetitive. Further, the one per cent VAT levied at the first point of sale was constrained only for teas sold in auction and direct first sale by the bought leaf factories and Indcoserve, leaving the estate tea factories and TANTEA outside the ambit of such cover.

Yet the offer volumes during the first seven months of 2008 at Coimbatore auction centre went up by 23 per cent to 17.08 million kg against 13.87 million kg during the corresponding months of the previous year.