A year after the UP Board fist introduced textbooks of the National Council of Educational Research and Training syllabi for all the subjects taught in classes 9 to 12 of its schools, the board will need to start paying 12% Goods & Services Tax (GST), due on the royalty of these books, to the NCERT. Board officials said that the NCERT had sent across a missive on this issue.
“We have received a communiqué from the NCERT in this regard. The matter is being discussed now,” said UP Board secretary Neena Srivastava.
So far, the board had only been paying royalty -- 5% of the total cost of the books -- to the NCERT. As the board was collecting the royalty amount from the publishers, it wasn’t costing it or the end users anything extra. However, with the GST payment, there will be some increase in the cost of the books. The publishers may be expected to recover this additional cost from the consumers.
Officials said that last year, the board had paid Rs 7.98 crore (a little under Rs 80 million) to the NCERT as royalty. “If this amount is taken into consideration, the GST would be around Rs 85.17 lakh,” said a board official who did not wish to be named.
Explaining further, he said, “So, for instance, if a book is priced at Rs 50, then each year, a royalty of Rs 2.5 has to be given to the NCERT. Now, on this Rs 2.5, the board will have to give 30 paise as GST. This may seem like a small sum but when the total number of books is high -- as is the case with the UP Board -- the GST amount paid will also be substantial.”
{{/usCountry}}Explaining further, he said, “So, for instance, if a book is priced at Rs 50, then each year, a royalty of Rs 2.5 has to be given to the NCERT. Now, on this Rs 2.5, the board will have to give 30 paise as GST. This may seem like a small sum but when the total number of books is high -- as is the case with the UP Board -- the GST amount paid will also be substantial.”
{{/usCountry}}The UP Board — among the world’s largest examination bodies — has around 27,000 schools spread across all the 75 districts of the state affiliated to it. These schools include government-run, government-aided and unaided institutions and have a whopping over 1.25 crore (12.5 million) students enrolled in them.
When contacted, officials of the education department said that there was no need for parents or students to worry, as any hike in the cost of the books, if it happened, would be minor.
They said that the board got NCERT syllabi textbooks printed at fairly lower costs by private publishers for its students. “For example, one of the costliest books -- mathematics for Class 11 -- is priced at Rs 77, even as the cost of the NCERT textbook is Rs 180. Similarly, the economics textbook for Class 9 is priced at just Rs 11, while the NCERT book costs Rs 45,” said an official, requesting anonymity.
The board has introduced NCERT syllabi textbooks for 24 subjects over the past two academic sessions.