Rice Federation tells TN Chief Minister to accept exemption for rice with GST council

Paddy and rice millers have urged the Tamil Nadu government led by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay to take up the issue of Goods and Services Tax (GST) exemption for rice, a staple commodity, with the Center and the GST Council.

The 57th GST Council is likely to be convened in a few weeks and states can voice their concerns there, said D. Thulasingam, president of Tamil Nadu Rice Mill Owners’ Federation and Paddy Rice Federation.

This unnecessary tax falls on poor people who buy several kilograms of rice at a time. Rice packets weighing less than 26 kg are now taxed at 5% GST, he said.

“Nearly 15% to 20% of consumers like daily wage laborers buy rice in small quantities. Before the GST regime, some states like Karnataka and undivided Andhra Pradesh used to collect taxes on rice. But it was only 1% or 2%. GST is also one of the reasons for the increase in rice prices,” he said.

AC Mohan, secretary of the federation, said that rice is perhaps the only commodity that has seen a decline in prices every year.

“Every year, the government increases the minimum support price given to farmers. The price of fertilizers has gone up, as have labor costs. When this is the case, why don’t rice prices go up? But they also always go down when there is a good harvest.”

He explained that the shortage of rice was not the reason for the rise in prices.

“We have enough stock and there is no hoarding either. The super fine varieties of Sona Masoori, White Ponni and BPT which come from other states have become costly. Tamil Nadu does not grow much of these varieties. Some brands which depend on such varieties from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have increased their selling price,” Mr Mohan said.

Paddy marketing fee

The federation also urges the state government not to levy 1% marketing fee on paddy fish from other states as it has already been collected by those governments. This fee should be collected only on the paddy field that the farmers bring to the market in Tamil Nadu, he added.

Published – 19 Jul 2026 0:14 IST