New Delhi, August 12: The government has decided to exempt statues, handicrafts and handlooms from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi, said Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday. “Rakshabandhan is coming, we have exempted Rakhis from GST and ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi, have also exempted all kinds of statues,handicrafts, handlooms,” Goyal said at an event. “All these things are our heritage and we have to hold on to them with respect,” he added.

The government last month had exempted sanitary pads and rakhis from the GST. It brought 12 per cent GST to zero on sanitary pads. Among items on which GST was reduced include footwear, small televisions, water heater, electric ironing machines, refrigerators, lithium ion batteries, hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, food appliances and ethanol.

In an interview on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said people adopted the GST wholeheartedly and the government made necessary changes following feedback from the various sectors. “People of this country particularly, the business community have supported GST and adopted it whole-heartedly. They deserve all compliments. Being a sensitive Government, we are also taking into account the feedback which comes from people and we are doing corrections wherever required,” he said.

“The number of enterprises registered from Independence until now was 66 lakh. In just one year after the introduction of GST, the number of new enterprises registered is 48 lakh. Around 350 crore invoices were processed and 11 crore returns were filed in 1 year. Doesn't this show wide-spread public acceptance?” PM Modi added whole countering charges of the opposition.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 12, 2018 02:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).