Sahitya Parishat seeks GST exemption for royalties

Pointing out that the Kannada publishing industry is in doldrums with not more than 1000 copies being printed of even the most popular books, Kannada Sahitya Parishat has written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, seeking exemption on GST levied on royalties given to authors.

In a letter to the finance minister, Sahitya Parishat president Manu Baligar said the advent of digitisation has already adversely affected the publishing industry. The imposition of GST on royalties given to authors has come as a huge blow to the Kannada book publishing industry, he said. "Earlier, publishers had to send one bill to the distributor. As a result of GST, they have to send hundreds of bills based on GST number allotted to each destination," he stated, elaborating on the taxation system was resulting in huge paperwork for publishers.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Book Publishers' Association too has urged the government to revoke the GST on royalty. Speaking to DH, Prakash Kambathalli, president of the association said the current circumstances had forced them to seek this exemption.

"We are paying 12% GST on royalty given to authors, ever since this new taxation system was introduced. In the pre-GST times, publishers used to pay tax only for printing. This new system has led to not only increase in paperwork but has also posed a burden on both authors and publishers. Citing GST as a reason, some publishers tend to cut the amount from the royalty they owe to the authors. It has made the whole system complicated," he explained.

Considering that all regional languages suffered a similar plight, the association has sought revoking of GST on royalties for publishing in all regional languages, Kambathalli added.