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 India Inc on Friday welcomed the GST Council's decision to defer the proposed GST hike on textiles.

According to reports, the council has deferred the proposal on the back of reservations from state governments and industry.

The proposal intended to hike GST rate on apparel from 5 to 12 per cent.

"A big relief to the textile and clothing industry - we enter 2022 with a fresh bout optimism as the big fear recedes -AAa great and timely gift by the GST Council," said Sanjay K. Jain, ICC National Textiles Committee Chairman and MD, TT Limited.

"Cannot express in words the big relief we are feeling, after living in fear from September."

According to Bimal Jain, Chair of IDT Committee PHDCCI said the deferment will give a much needed impetus and support to the sector.

"Large number of small and medium scale taxpayers were worried with the proposal to hike GST rates and this decision of GST Council is in the right direction and it is advisable to build confidence among traders before hiking GST rates in future."

Besides, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has also hailed the decision.

Furthermore, the confederation urged to postpone the decision to increase the GST rate on footwear as well.

CAIT has urged the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to constitute a "task force" to consider the intricacies of the taxation system, simplification and rationalisation, increase in tax base and revenue to the government.

The task force, said CAIT in a statement may be formed under the chairmanship of the Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes, which should include representatives of trade beside senior officials.

Additionally, the confederation said that it has been more than four years since the implementation of GST and till now GST has not become a stable tax system.

"GST portal is also not working properly. Contrary to expectations, GST has turned out to be a very complex tax system due to huge anomalies in the tax system," the statement said.