Every year India International Trade Fair Event is conducted in the Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, this year is the 37th anniversary. The event started from 14th November will continue till 27th November, is open for the general public. The information coming from the trade fair is that this year the fair is neither good for the businesses nor for the Central Government, due to the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) Regime. It is also not going to be profit-making for those 200 traders who have already gathered there to participate in the event.
Participants coming from other countries such as Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran, and Bhutan are saying that they are facing problems due to the implementation of GST and will not come to attend the event next year.
The event until last year used to be organized in an area of 1 lakh square meter which has reduced to 55,000 square meters this year, thus demonstrating the dampened spirit of the fair this year. The reason for allotting less space is the demolishment of the Hall of Nations and Hall of Industries in the month of April. The number of stalls has also reduced from 6000 to 3100 this year.
It seems that Ministry of Commerce was already aware of less number of people participating in the fair. This year Ministry of Commerce had anticipated around 6-7 lakhs of people to participate in the event which is in stark contrast to the number last year which was around 14 lakhs and broke all the records of previous years.
The fair has opened for general public. It has been one week since the event has commenced, and reports from media suggest that there has been 50% decline in the business as compared to previous years. Those traders who have come to India from other countries saying that they would not prefer participating in this kind of event next year due to an adverse impact of GST on trade.
Opinions of International Traders
One of the trader from Turkey who has been participating in the event since last 19 years stated that this year he has spent 19 lakhs to get the place but on an average, he is earning approx rs 20,000 per day. On each sale, traders have to pay State GST and he has already paid integrated GST. Due to GST, investment in the fair has increased which has in turn led to the hike in the prices of the products. Customers are not able to pay the higher rate of the products which has resulted in a decrease in sale.
A trader from Afghanistan who has been participating in the event for last 10 years, has also echoed the same and laments that this year he might have to take his carpets back as there is a decrease in the sale of the carpets which ranges from INR 10,000 to INR 100000. GST is taking a toll on the business and foreign traders might have to incur losses in this event.
One of the cloth merchants from Sharjah, said that customers did not buy clothes last year due to demonetization and this year due to the implementation of GST, customers are not ready to buy cloth materials at an increased rate. On the other hand, many foreign traders have claimed that they are facing problems in the GST registration process. According to them due to complexity in GST forms, they are not able to procure registration number.
Source: Aajtak.intoday.in
