Mumbai traders on indefinite strike against LBT

Over 1.5 million retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers have

launched an indefinite strike against the Maharashtra government's Local Body Tax (LBT) today. After talks between the Federation of Association of Merchants (FAM) and Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan failed, neighbourhood retail shops, wholesale trading in apparels, electronics, hardware, metals, foodgrains etc and all types of manufacturing activities in Mumbai came to a halt since morning affecting millions of customers.

The Federation of Retail Traders' Welfare Association (FRTWA) has also joined its over one million counterparts in the rest of the state, who have been on a regular strike and agitation since April 22, following a call by the Confederation of All India Traders. A petition by a Pune trade body challenging the LBT will come up for hearing before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, May 7.

LBT, which replaced the traditional octroi in various municipalities in the state, is an account-based cess collection for every raw material used or imported into the city limits by all businesses, traders and manufacturers. While it has already been implemented in most parts of Maharashtra from April 1, it is due to be imposed in Mumbai from Oct 1 this year.

Meanwhile, citing government’s tough stand on the issue, traders have shown willingness to withdraw the strike if there is a single window for tax collection.