Reportedly India's sports goods manufacturing hub jalandhar produces nearly 70 per cent of the total sports goods in the country. Meanwhile nearly 30 per cent of the sports goods manufactured in india are exported to various countries. However, 60 per cent of the goods are consumed by the government and the educational institutions. Only 10 percent are sold in the open market.
Furthermore the indian sports industry, which is facing serious challenges from the cheap and spurious Chinese goods, are expecting relief in the form of uniform GST slabs and tax exemption in the coming budget. Further the three GST slabs (5,12 and 18 per cent) are not acceptable to the industry. When speaking to reporters pran Chadda of Universal sports industries said, "GST is a big issue. The GST is good for the country but I think the government has implemented it in a haste, it is not proper. It would have been better had the government taken the concerned people into confidence while making the slabs."
Moreover pending GST refunds have further affected the liquidity of the sports goods industry. Chadha said that the situation is improving but slowly. Perhaps there are lots of problems in getting raw materials. Labour is a big problem because the migrant labourers never want to come under the regular factory act rules because they keep coming and going. On top of that, the government considers us as thieves. I think there is a fear psychosis throughout the industry which has hurt the industry a lot". Apparently Jalandhar-based sports goods exporters have also demanded a subsidy on freight as the Mumbai-Nhava Sheva port is nearly 1800 kms from here.
