agra scores of representatives from the footwear manufacturing industry who had gathered in agra for a twoday conference have said demonetisation gst and the shutdown of slaughterhouses in uttar pradesh were responsible for a drastic 60 slump in business president of agra shoe factors federation gagan das ramani told toi that 75 of workshops have closed in agra in the recent past ldquoearlier demonetisation had hit the industry hard and now gst has made the situation worse the industry which caters to 65 of footwear demand in india and has a 25 share in exports has seen a 60 drop in business as a result of all these decisionsrdquo he said the shoemakers under the banner of agra shoe factors federation submitted a memorandum in this regard after the conference to minister of state for finance shiv pratap shukla industry leaders also pointed out that the shutdown of abattoirs had affected availability of raw material including leather puran dawar president of agra footwear manufacturers and exporters chamber said ldquoleather is not a luxury item itrsquos a basic necessity smallscale manufacturers of footwear have been disheartened as the industry has been hit badlyrdquo claiming that the recentlyintroduced gst rates have adversely affected agrarsquos shoemaking industry which remains the livelihood of 35 lakh families manufacturers have demanded exemption from gst and also reduction of taxes on raw material from the existing slabs of 12 18 and 28 to a flat rate of 5 ldquoearlier manufacturers with a turnover of less than rs 150 crore did not have to pay excise duty even footwear costing up to rs 499 a pair was exempted from vat and excise in agra now 5 gst has been imposed on footwear up to rs 500 which should be kept taxfree as this is the price range for shoes bought by the poor and underprivileged we have demanded 5 gst for footwear up to rs 1000 and 12 on shoes priced higher the two categories are taxed at 18 under gstrdquo ramani added dawar also expressed concern over gst refund issue ldquothe government had also announced that it would be providing refunds within 7 days but it has been four months and no mechanism has been set up for this so farrdquo