18% GST On Parotta? Authority of Advance Ruling in this State put Roti and Parotta in two different slabs

It’s just been three days since a large group of Malayalis joined Twitter en masse (#KeralaComesToTwitter) to fight misinformation about their state on the social media platform. On Friday, they had a fight on their hands.

What’s ticked them off? A recent GST ruling by the Karnataka bench of Authority for Advance Rulings which put roti and parotta in two different GST slabs. The ruling said food items like the Malabar parotta and whole wheat parotta would be subject to a higher GST rate of 18% against the 5% that was applied to khakhra, plain chapati and roti, Times of India reported.

Parotta, a flaky flatbread made of maida, is widely consumed in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It’s unclear if 18% GST is also likely to apply to paratha and paratha wraps which were previously in the same category. The ruling did not mention this.

The bench said it had distinguished between the two products because rotis were a ready-to-use food preparation while parottas needed to be heated before they could be consumed and hence could not be classified under Entry 99A of Schedule 1 of GST notifications as roti was.

This justification did not quite fly with parotta lovers who were soon trending #handsoffporotta on Twitter.

Pic Courtsey: HuffPost India

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