Kolkata, Sep 21 (IANS): Fan manufacturers on Wednesday said their sales declined by 10 per cent in the April-June quarter due to destocking by dealers and postponement of purchase decision before the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1.

"There had been a decline of fan sales by 10 per cent in the first quarter compared to previous year and mostly it was due to GST," Indian Fan Manufacturers' Association Chairman Rohit Mathur said here.

The Rs 6,500 crore fan industry in India registered negative growth also because of the sluggish real estate sector.

The first quarter accounts for 32 per cent of the total annual fan sales of over five crore units and the industry grew by 9.6 per cent in 2016-17 despite the demonetisation impact faced by the trade.

According to officials of the association, there are 1.65 lakh retailers associated with the fan industry and GST registration related issues and prevailing confusion among them have led to such disruption.

The association said fans were a basic necessity in a tropical climate like India's for all strata of society, adding that it had submitted representations to the GST Council to reduce the GST rate on electric fans to 12 per cent from 28 per cent.

"We were told by the council that our representation has been forwarded to the Fitment Committee for their views and reconsideration," the association added.