Plastic Association's memorandum to Fin Min over budget proposal to increase excise duty for PE bags

14-Apr-15

The Canara Plastic Manufacturers and Traders Association (CPMTA), has expressed concern over a proposal in the union budget 2015-16 to enhance excise duty for plastic bags of Poly ethylene from 12.5% to 15% in notification no 12/2015-Central Excise dated March 1. In a memorandum to union finance minister Arun Jaitley, CPMTA said this move is totally against the spirit of the budget, as reported by Times Of India. PP bags and all other plastic products of PP and PE have been excluded from this category. As per the association, this unqualified and indiscriminate increase of excise duties will be death blow to units in organized sector registered with central excise department and who pay excise duty. Above move of increasing duty will discourage this sector further and promote tax evasion. Plastic bags industry in MSME sector is reeling under pressure on account of high prices of raw materials and competition from cheap products from China. B A Nazeer, president, CPMTA urged Jaitley to restore central excise duty to earlier level and save the plastic bags processing units from closure.