Speaking to PrintWeek India, Uday Dhote, director of Dhote Offset Technokrafts and treasurer of Maharashtra Mudran Parishad, said, “The paper traders have closed their shops in protest. We can print only as long as we have the stocks. We have become more of account managers rather than being print specialists. The LBT will definitely have a major effect on our businesses, since we will have one more act (at par with VAT) to follow.”

Dhote added, “In 2005, the Government came up with VAT and had said that the CST and other levies like entry tax etc will be phased out, but that did not happen. Till today, we are paying 2% CST. Moreover, now we have one more enactment in the form of LBT to follow and all this at a time when the implementation of GST is under active consideration. The protesting paper traders are also not against the levy per se, which may be collected in some way through additional tax in our VAT returns, but are against following one more act and the bureaucracy surrounding it. Our printers’ associations principally agree on this point with the paper traders and hence, might join them in their protest, if necessary."