Hyderabad: The endowments department has been feeling the pinch of GST on ‘prasadam’. Though prasadam has been exempted from GST by the GST Council, the tax is still levied on the inputs used in prasadam.
Big temples in Telangana such as Yadadri, Basar, and Vemulawada have requested the TS government to pay the tax.
Endowments minister A. Indrakaran Reddy on Saturday wanted to know how much GST was being paid for prasadam so that the amount can be included in the TS Budget proposals for 2018-19 so that temples can be compensated.
He requested Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to impress upon the Centre that even the inputs must be tax-free.
“Prasadam costs have gone up by 50 per cent due to GST on ingredients used in their preparation. The temples are incurring losses on the sale of prasadam for rates lower than production costs. They are seeking financial assistance from the government to meet this burden,” Mr Reddy said.
After GST came into force in July 2017, the Yadadri temple increased the price of laddu by 25 per cent in October 2017.
A 100-gram laddu costs Rs 20 from the earlier Rs 15. A 250-gm packet of pulihora and daddojnam has been increased to Rs 15 and a 75-gram vada to Rs 20, an increase of Rs 5.
Temples in Vemulawada and Basar are also seeking price hike citing increased production costs. The prasadam rates in these temples were last revised in 2015.
Mr Reddy said, “The endowments department is not looking at earning profits by increasing prasadam rates. We want prasadam to be sold for no loss, no profit. But after GST, the temples are suffering losses on sale of prasadam and want the government to support them. We will request the Centre to exempt GST on inputs used in prasadams. If not, the government will have to support the temples and accordingly Budget proposals of endowments department are being prepared.”
