New Delhi, Dec 24 (KNN) The All-India Federation of Plastic Industries (AIFPI) has dashed-off a letter to Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia seeking refund of Goods and Services Tax (GST) for low-cost footwear manufacturers in the state.

In its letter, AIFPI said that the low-cost footwear sector which is a job providing sector has been facing severe working capital problems due to non-receipt of GST refund in Delhi.

''They are procuring most of the raw materials used for the manufacturing of footwear at 18 per cent slab thereby Input Tax Credit (ITC) is very amount which is accumulated with the department and this is creating lot of financial hardship and withheld the working capital of the low-cost footwear manufacturer,'' they mentioned in the letter.  

''We would also like to mention here that the basic raw material prices used in the manufacture of footwear have increased tremendously over the last 5-6 months and non-receipt of GST refund has further added fuel to the fire, hurting their businesses. This has also affected the employment generation in the footwear sector,'' the letter read.  

The federation also said that the small footwear manufacturers are finding it difficult to run their business in the absence of GST refund as these manufacturers are required funds for buying for their ongoing businesses.

''The absence of release of funds, these small footwear manufacturers have no other alternative but to slow down their production process as it is really difficult for them to survive during COVID pandemic,'' they said.

AIFPI further said that particularly in Delhi, the concerned GST department is not refunding the GST input credit to the footwear manufacturers, whereas almost in other states of the country, the concerned state GST department is refunding GST to the concerned units.

''Due to this fact the refund claim of footwear manufacturers based in Delhi is held up and their working capital position is deteriorating day by day,'' the letter added.

AIFPI requested the Deputy CM to issue necessary instructions to the concerned GST Department in Delhi to refund GST claim at the earliest without further loss of time.