“The notices have come as a shocker to small businessmen. The small traders will not sell milk and milk-based products on July 23-24 and do their business wearing a black badge,” Karnataka labour council president Ravi Shetty Byndoor, along with other office bearers, told the media.
The GST authorities have targeted small shops and vendors selling items such as milk, bakeries, condiments, flowers, and meat. All of them will gather at the Freedom Park in Bengaluru on July 25 and hold a day-long protest, he said.
The merchants are not against paying taxes, but the latest notices demanding lakhs of rupees in taxes have come without any awareness drive. Those who come under the tax net are open to register with the GST authorities and pay taxes from the year 2026-27, Byndoor said.
Cab and auto drivers, too, have been collecting fares from customers via UPI, and the GST authorities may also target them in future, said Cab Drivers Association president Sadananda Swamy, while pledging their support to the protest.
BJP blamed
Deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar said the commercial taxes department has issued notices to about 14,000 traders, including those selling tender coconuts, flowers, and vegetables, while blaming the Centre for the action by the GST authorities. The BJP was now shifting the blame to the state government.
AICC leader Rahul Gandhi opposed the GST in the past, the Dy CM said, while adding that the CM would discuss the subject with the GST officials and take a call on the notices issued. The GST notices, Shivakumar said, were hurting small and medium traders.
Asked if the notices are meant to meet the stiff revenue targets set by the CM, Shivakumar said the notices had been issued due to pressure from the GST Council.
BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar, in a statement, wondered if the commercial taxes department had started reporting to the Centre, as Shivakumar’s comments suggest the notices came at the instance of the GST Council. Some of the notices claimed small merchants have an annual turnover of Rs 7.5 crore, and he would be happy to honour them for their business achievement if the government disclosed their names.
JDS leader Nikhil Kumaraswamy said the flood of notices to tiny bakeries indeed showed Karnataka’s coffers were empty.
Small traders across Karnataka have displayed huge signboards saying they will not accept UPI anymore and do business only in cash, worried over fears that UPI transactions will invite GST scrutiny and tax demands.
