Sanjay Patel: "LBT to impact Mumbai's print industry"

Speaking to PrintWeek India, Sanjay Patel, managing director at Param Packaging and president of Bombay Masters Printers Association (BMPA), said, “The LBT protest is more in Mumbai as compared to Navi Mumbai. Currently the trading community is more active in the protest against LBT Act. Definitely, if the protest continues the printing industry will suffer because the protestors also include traders who cater to printing industry. The printing activity will continue as long as we have the stocks. As LBT Act is introduced as a replacement of octroi, no one is against LBT, it’s the modality of LBT Act along with certain provisions are objectionable.”

Patel added, “Maharashtra can follow the Gujarat model, wherein the tax (replacement of octroi) is collected as special additional VAT whereby duplication of filling returns and facing different government authorities is eliminated. What is the need of having altogether a new tax. At BMPA, we have circulated the details to our fellow members. We are educating our members about the pros and cons of the LBT Act and in few days we will have a seminar on LBT.”

Meanwhile apart from the printing industry, even the book publishing industry has been hit by the LBT Act. To-date most books have had Octroi tax exemption in Maharashtra.

Read about it in a separate story: http://www.printweek.in/News/343396,publishers-in-pune-protest-local-body-tax-on-books.aspx?