The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Sunday urged the Centre to declare sanitary napkins manufactured by Indian companies a tax-free commodity.
A 12-per cent tax is set to levied on sanitary napkins under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, which is slated to come into play from July 1.
MNS leader Shalini Thackeray met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley here and urged him to do away with GST and other cesses with regard to the “environment-friendly” sanitary napkins.
The party said Jaitley had assured Thackeray that he would look into it.
“There is no point in creating awareness till the sanitary napkins are made affordable. If they are taxed under GST, it would amount to the women being taxed for a commodity they need desperately,” a statement quoted Thackeray as saying.
During the meeting with the finance minister, the MNS leader also submitted a charter of her party listing out all of its demands to ensure that the women got a reprieve from the “severe” tax pressure on sanitary napkins.