Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reduces mandi tax to 1%

In a major pro-farmer decision, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has decided to reduce mandi tax to 1 per cent from the existing 2 per cent and issued directives in this regard, an official said on Thursday.

With 0.5 per cent development fee remaining, the farmers and related traders will now pay a total of 1.5 per cent mandi tax instead of the 2.5 percent earlier for trading inside the mandi premises, the official said.

The decision is being considered as a Diwali gift to the lakhs of farmers and agriculture organisations of the state.

In order to provide relief to the farmers during the COVID-19 lockdown, 45 items of fruits and vegetables were denotified to be exempted from mandi tax in May. Now, only 1 per cent usage fee is payable on these items.

In June, the Centre had segregated the mandi area into mandi premises and trade area and the jurisdiction of mandi samitis was limited to mandi premises and notified mandi places.

The trade areas were also exempted from mandatory agriculture marketing licence and mandi tax/development fee.

In view of this, the Yogi Adityanath government has taken the decision to reduce the mandi tax to enable farmers and the traders to use facilities of the mandi premises as well as promote agriculture trading in the mandis, the official said.