HC seeks Centre’s response on 12% GST on sanitary napkins

NEWDELHI: The Delhi high court on Tuesday sought a response from the Centre on a petition challenging the imposition of 12% Goods and Service Tax (GST) on sanitary napkins.

A bench of acting chief justice Gita Mittal and justice C Hari Shankar also asked the finance ministry and the Goods and Services Tax Council to respond to the petition filed by Zarmina Israr Khan, a PhD scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Khan said GST, which was enforced across the country on July 1, has grouped sanitary napkins with items such as toys, leather goods, roasted coffee, mobile phones and processed foods, all of which are subjected to a GST rate of 12%.

She said sanitary napkins were not included in items that have been exempted from GST with an intent to not burden the consumer, keeping in mind the nature of the item and the perceived significance to the consumer. “Some of these items include kajal, kumkum, bindis, sindur, alta, plastic and glass bangles, hearing aids, passenger baggage, puja samagri, and all types of contraceptives, including condoms,” she said.

The petition said there are over 355 million menstruating women in India, a vast majority of who still face significant barriers to a comfortable and dignified experience with menstrual hygiene management.

She claimed that about 88% menstruating women in India have no access to sanitary napkins. “It has been found that the root cause of approximately 70% of all reproductive diseases in India is poor menstrual hygiene,” she added. Khan sought a direction to declare sanitary napkins to be liable to a ‘nil’ rate or a reduced rate of GST.