Devendra Fadnavis (R) and wife Amruta Fadnavis.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s wife Amruta has emerged as the latest campaigner against levying 12% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on sanitary napkins. She said she felt that sanitary napkins were not luxury products and so they shouldn’t be taxed.

The CM’s wife added that she hopes the next meeting to be chaired for GST, on June 11, will bring about the waiver, especially for non-branded sanitary napkins made by self-help groups. “We have been pushing for it and the CM has made a representation,” she told TOI. Officials from the state finance department told TOI that the proposal will be taken up on June 11 in Delhi.

The GST is to be rolled out from July 1. On May 18, the GST council had declared tax rates for 1,211 items, including sanitary towels, napkins and tampons. Earlier, sanitary napkins were taxed at 14.5%.

