As Horses Sell For Lakhs, GST Team Sets Camp For Compliance At Pushkar Fair

A team of GST officials reached the renowned Pushkar Fair in Rajasthan to keep an eye on tax compliance pertaining to sale of horses.

The fair, known for the trade of live animals, is seeing the GST being applied on horse sales for the first time. The team is working in coordination with the state veterinary department, that gives a a sale certificate and transfer permit for every horse sold at the fair.

HK Kaviya, circle officer in Ajmer, said, "There is no GST on the sale of other animals, but on the sale of live horses there is a five per cent GST for a transaction of over Rs 40 lakh. A trader can also voluntarily offer to pay GST if the sale is lesser than Rs 40 lakh."

The camels, buffaloess and other animals have become the stars of Pushkar Fair, with social media influencers claiming that some horses were sold for crores of rupees.

Shahbaaz, a horse from Chandigarh, was boasting a selling price of Rs 15 crore and its owner Gary Gill had told news agency ANI that he had an offer of Rs 9 crore for the stallion. Badal was priced at Rs 15 lakh , Shehzadi at Rs 51 lakh and Nagina at Rs 1 crore.

Alok Khare, additional director of the animal husbandry department, said social media posts are misleading. "These prices are misleading and no horse has been sold for even Rs 1 crore till now," he said. The maximum sale of horses has been in the range of Rs 2-10 lakh.

Khare added that there are over 4,500 horses at the fair, but none has been sold for over Rs 40 lakh.

Gajendra Singh Posana, president of the All India Marwari Horse Society, noted that most horses also come to the Pushkar fair to exhibit themselves.

"A number of horse owners also come to exhibit their mares or stallions. Many of these horses are used for breeding purposes and that is why owners want to exhibit their horses at the Pushkar Fair and they often quote high prices, but they actually don't sell the animal for that amount. It's like putting a value to an asset you have," he said.