When Union Finance Minister personally clarified about GST for traditionally hand-crafted musical instruments
CHENNAI Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman found time recently to reply to a post on Thanjavur veenas by social media influencers Pavan and Nandhini. M. Com student Subhashini Kannan, who belongs to a family of veena makers from Thanjavur, had expressed concern over rumours that such instruments too would attract GST. 'We don't get much in terms of profit since we have to invest in the wood and other items. It takes atleast 15 days to make one veena. In such a situation, if GST was also imposed it would be a burden for instrument makers,' she said on the video posted by the Instagram handle @inthemoodforsouth. Responding to her concern, Ms. Sitharaman, thanked Instagrammers Nandhini and Pavan for bringing out the cherished tradition of making handcrafted veenas in Thanjavur and how a few families are keeping the tradition alive. 'We are reaching out to the girl who mentioned her plight about GST in the video, as you have mentioned her number.' Further, she added: 'Just for the information of viewers, would like to state, as per the rules, indigenous handmade musical instruments are completely exempt from GST and hence attract zero GST.' The exemption list includes instruments such as sitar, sarasvati veena, mohan veena, nakula veena, thanthi Panai, elathalam among many others,' the Finance Minister explained. Speaking to The Hindu, Ms. Subashini said she was thankful to Ms. Sitharaman for exempting the instrument from GST. 'Someone else also later clarified that veenas don't attract GST. It came as a relief. After the post, we got orders for three veenas,' she said adding that veenas can be bought from ₹24,000 onwards depending on the colour and designs. They are all made using jackfruit wood. EOM
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