HAL & DRDO the current windows for MSMEs participation with Defence Indigenisation: Air Marshal P P Khandekar

Air Marshal P P Khandekar, AO-in-C (Maintenance), IAF on Tuesday emphasized, articulating that MSMEs should progress with defence indigenisation programme with increased Research & Development (R&D) having innovative approach as it would only ensure and enhanced their participation with armed forces through defence undertakings such as HAL and DRDO.

Addressing a Seminar on “MSME Role in Indigenisation of IAF Requirements – Combating Challenges and Creating Capabilities with MSMEs” under aegis of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here today, Mr. Khandekar said that currently MSMEs participation with armed forces was possible through the two entities and therefore, these should take advantages of the two windows with quality of manufacturing utmost in their mind.

Mr. Khandekar was addressing the Seminar which was organized as a Curtain Raiser to publicize a workshop on MSMEs role in Indigenisation of IAF requirements to be held at Lucknow on 14^th of next month under the joint aegis of HAL, DRDO and PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Seminar is likely to discuss and understand in detail the capabilities MSMEs posses and sensitize the local industry with the Indian Air Force requirement for future collaborations.  There will also be display of equipment by BRD units of Indian Air Force.

The stakeholders that are likely to attend the forthcoming seminar consists of Senior Indian Air Force officers, representatives from DPSUs, state government officials, defence think tanks, local SMEs and captains from the Indian industry including leading Indiana and International organizations.

In the Curtain Raiser event of the Chamber here today among those that were also present included the Vice President, PHD Chamber, Mr. Anil Khaitan; Co-Chairman, Defence Committee, PHD Chamber, Maj R S Bedi (Retd.) and its Secretary General, Mr. Saurabh Sanyal.

Tax Deducted at Source contributes to 40% of the total tax revenue of India

Tax Deducted at Source contributes to 40% of the total tax revenue of  India. This was stated by Smt Balbir Verma, Principal Director General of Income Tax (Admn) & (TPS).

Smt Verma was speaking at the Conference on Tax Deduction at Source: Issues, Problems and Recent Developments,  organised under the aegis of the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PHDCCI) here today.

She emphasized that the scope of TDS has enhanced over the years and that lately TDS software has been streamlined to solve the problem of the  deductees.

She also shed light on the provisons of Income Tax Act, 1961 and timely payment of TDS. She stated that Filing of TDS statement should be on time. Non- deduction of tax is due to lack of awareness on the part of deductor. Smt. Verma mentioned that Income Tax Department keeps a constant watch on non-filers and non-depositer of TDS. She gave her insight on importance and timely payment of tax, educating deductor about TDS and non-filing of TDS statement.

 Ms. Vatsalaa Jha, CIT-III (Transfer Pricing) in her address mentioned that TDS has made tax payment simple and transparent. The Optimized system allows people to file their Tax statement with ease. She highlighted the legal issues of Sec 234 E of Income Tax Act, 1961and emphasized on the scope of TDS. She also talked on the grievances of tax payers that have increased because of TDS mismatch.

The Conference discussed important issues of TDS and focused on interpretational issues, latest judicial pronouncements as well as procedural and practical issues encountered while filing returns and in assessments under the present system. Various aspects of TDS relating to Residents & Non – Residents were also deliberated in detail at the Conference.

The Conference covered the following:

·        TDS on payments to Contractors, Commission, Rent

·        TDS on FTS, Royalties

·        TDS on Salaries & Interest

·        TDS on payments for immovable property

·        TDS from payments to Non-residents (Section 195 & Section 206 AA)

·        TDS in context of Double Tax Treaties

·        Equalization Levy

·        Recent Notifications, Circulars & Case Laws

·     Issues pertaining to TDS refunds; E-Filling of TDS returns, issuance of TDS                 certificates & Procedural Difficulties

·        Assessee in default, Interest and Penalty;

Sh Anil Khaitan, Vice President, PHDCCI, in his address said that the Government has been trying to plug all loopholes that may be confronting the assesses. He said that several proposals of the Justice Easwar Committee as well as the TARC have been accepted , main being the rationalisation of the TDS provisions for small taxpayers, dispensing with the requirement of PAN registration for foreign companies in availing of concessional withholding tax rate. He added that several recommendations of the Easwar Committee focus on greater transparency and promoting higher accountability in tax administration.

GST WILL END MULTIPLICITIES IN THE INDIRECT TAXATION: NATIONAL, SPOKESPERSON, BJP

Goods and Services Tax (GST) as and when is implemented will attract litigation as it is going to be an evolving tax regime which could take some time to be perfect and the ceiling of perfection be rising with advancing times, according to the National Spokesperson of BJP, Mr. Nalin Kohli.

Addressing the members of the Managing Committee of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here today, Mr. Kohli said that the GST ceiling and its bottom line would be consumer friendly as those that will decide the tax rates are going to be public representatives and they would take public view while deliberating upon the taxation limits both at upper hand as well as bottom line in public interests.

“Since the GST would be an evolving tax regime, it is bound to attract litigations as and when its implementation begins but at the end of the day, the taxation system would gradually end the multiplicities of existing indirect tax system.  Not only, the collections would rise but the tax distribution will become more friendly”, Mr. Kohli concluded his remarks on GST.

He called upon industry to be more compliant and keep their books neat and tidy as gradually, Indian systems are transforming for much better days which would make compliance as one of the important perquisites to follow a disciplined routine not only in business practices but otherwise too.

The managing committee meeting was presided over by the President of the Chamber Dr. Mahesh Gupta in which moderation was partly done by its Senior Vice President, Mr. Gopal Jiwarajka with Secretary General of the PHD Chamber, Mr. Saurabh Sanyal proposing a vote.

70% of India’s top export destinations face economic slowdown: PHD Chamber

Exports projected to grow at 9-10% in 2016-17

Though a ray of hope is emerging with dynamic efforts undertaken by the Government in improving the ease of doing business and reforms in the export infrastructure but economic slowdown in 70% of India’s export destinations is a major challenge to India’s exports growth, said Dr. Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in a press statement issued here today. 

Notwithstanding, slowdown in destination economies, dynamic reforms undertaken at domestic front vis-a-vis improvement in ease of doing business has potential to post a 9-10% exports growth in the current year 2016-17, said Dr. Gupta

The incremental growth rate (increase in growth rate over the growth rate achieved in previous year) is negative for most of the destination economies including USA, UK, UAE, Hong Kong, China, among other major export destinations.  

The GDP growth rate of US is projected to decline from 2.4% in 2015 to 2.2% in 2016, UAE growth is projected to decline from 3.9% in 2015 to 2.3% in 2016, Hong Kong is projected to decline from 2.36% in 2015 to 2.15% in 2016, China is projected to decline from 6.9% in 2015 to 6.6% in 2016 and growth of UK is projected to decline from 2.2% in 2015 to 1.7% in 2016, according to the World Economic Outlook of IMF

Global trade growth is also projected to remain sluggish at 2.8% in 2016 showing no change from 2.8% in 2015. So will be the demand scenarios of these economies and growth of our exports towards these economies, said Dr. Mahesh Gupta

Going ahead, India should focus more on the promising growth economies such as emerging and developing economies as economic growth is projected comparatively higher in many of these economies.

The emerging and developing economies have been projected to grow from 4% in 2015 to at a rate of 4.1%  in 2016 and 4.6% in 2017 which is significantly high in comparison to the growth rate of advanced economies at 1.9% in 2015, 1.8% in 2016 and 2017.

Growth scenarios indicate higher prospectus  for growth of exports in the emerging and developing economies.

Enhanced focus on emerging and developing economies particularly economies in Asian  and African region will help India to achieve at  around US$290billion exports with a growth rate of 9-10% in 2016-17 over the US$264billion exports 2015-16.

Good Monsoon will Control Spike in Inflation: PHD Chamber

Sudden spike in WPI inflation is majorly due to a rise in the food inflation which will come down with abundant supply of kharif crops hitting the market in the coming months, said Dr. Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

WPI inflation has increased to 3.5% in the month of July 2016 as against 1.6% in June 2016.

Prices of pulses and vegetables will come down as an incremental sowing process suggests ample pulses production in the coming kharif season, said Dr. Gupta

Sowing process of pulses has been observed significantly higher at more than 30% during the current year 2016 as compared with the last year 2015.

Good monsoon will also enhance the supply of vegetables and increased supply will help in bringing down the prices, said Dr. Gupta.

However, going ahead, we need to focus on building supply chain infrastructure majorly the storage of vegetables and other perishables to remove the hurdles in the supply chain, he said.

PHD CHAMBER ORGANIZES 4TH GLOBAL SPORTS CONVENTION-2016

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday organised a 4^th Global Sports Convention-2016, celebrating the International Youth Day “Sports for All”, which was inaugurated by the President, BCCI, Mr. Anurag Thakur and presided over by the President of the PHD Chamber, Dr. Mahesh Gupta.

The other dignitaries who also took part on the occasion comprised Former Indian Cricket World Champion, Mr. Madan Lal; Vice Chairperson, Special Olympics Bharat, Dr. Mallika Nadda; High Commissioner of Australia to India, Ms. Harinder Sidhu; Vice President, PHD Chamber, Mr. Anil Khaitan; Chairperson, Sports Committee, PHD Chamber, Ms. Neelam Pratap Rudy and its Director, Mr. Yogesh Srivastav.

The convention which was 4^th in the series had its sole focus to promote the sports in all categories so that the sporting becomes the integral part of youth of India.. The 4th PHD Chamber Global Sports Convention also deliberated on variety of emerging sports issues, eliciting practical possible solutions to promote and propagate sports among all categories of human interests as also seriously work for providing a road map for a holistic development of Indian youth.

 Sports Excellence Awards were also given away to sports personnel of different sporting streams to encourage them to excel in sports with a motto of attaining distinction for individuals and thereby for the nation as a whole.

The Chairperson, Sports Committee, PHD Chamber, Ms. Neelam Pratap Rudy emphasised that this convention  provide for hosting panel discussions on creating a lifetime sporting legacy for the youth of India, suggesting ways and means for conquering challenges and optimizing opportunities in the field of sports. It will also make ways for working out policy related suggestions for the government so that the sporting becomes pervasive in India with the sole objective of attaining distinctions in all sports that India can think of”.

With focus on sports, India would be able to promote the “Beti Paraho, Beti Khilao” campaign for their growth as well as mental and physical development, also pointing out that to promote rural sports, a corpus needs to be created, she added.

In his inaugural address, the BCCI President, Mr. Anurag Thakur said that the Board would offer free and clean water in all stadia to spectators as also give away 10 per cent of the seats out of their total capacities absolutely free for students during all seasons of cricketing.

He also promised that the BCCI would make serious attempts to drastically bring down the cost of snacks and eateries sold off within the premises of various stadiums across the country so that the crowds present during cricket events stop feeling cheated.

The President, BCCI also disclosed that the Board of Cricket Control would soon enter into agreement with Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) as per which the latter be obliged to create cricket facilities in their upcoming real estate projects so that the budding sports persons can make use of such facilities for their possible evaluation in the field of cricketing.

He also called upon the manufacturers of various sports goods that were present on the occasion to come out with the details and share them with him so that a draft law could be legislated to punish those fake sports goods manufacturers that sell off the original brands claiming to own the original brands.

In his welcome remarks, President, PHD Chamber, Dr. Mahesh Gupta said that encouragement to sports is not the responsibility of the government alone but all citizens should contribute to it.

The Convention also awarded the accomplished sports person from different walks of sports for their outstanding contribution with awardees being felicitated jointly by Mr. Thakur and others such as President, PHD Chamber.

India’s exports better placed in its product diversification: PHD Chamber

India’s exports are better placed in product diversification as concentration of its top ten export products is only 58% as compared to most of the top ten leading export countries of World viz. Hong Kong (89%), Republic of Korea (86%), Japan (77%), UK (71%), Germany (70%), USA (68%), China (68%), Netherlands (63%) and France (60%), said an analysis conducted by PHD research Bureau of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (for details refer Annexure I).

Higher the percentage of the country, the more it is concentrated to exports of few products and lesser the percentage of the country, the more diversified it is in terms of export diversification of its products.  

India has consistently diversified its top ten export products as concentration of top ten export products was 60% in 2010 and 58% in 2015.

Notwithstanding the excellent diversification of export products, India’s export growth trajectory has showed lackluster performance due to slowdown in demand in the destination countries. Although things are improving in logistics and export infrastructure front, the cost of credit to exporters is still high as compared to its competitors in the international market said Dr. Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

As world economy witnessed slowdown in demand, all the leading export countries posted a negative growth in 2015 except France. Export growth was negative in Netherlands (-17%), Italy (-13%), Germany (-11%), UK (-9%), Republic of Korea (-8%), USA (-7%), Hong Kong (-5%), China (-3%) but positive in France at (1%).

India stands 19th in the list of exporters (worldwide) with merchandise exports valued at US $262 billion. India’s share in world exports is estimated at 1.6% with a growth rate of ( - )15.5% in the year 2015-2016 (for details refer Annexure II).

Further, a ray of hope is emerging with decent efforts undertaken by the government in improving the ease of doing business and reforms in the export infrastructure, he said.

With the continuous reforms, exports showed a positive growth of 1.27% in the month of June, 2016 and hopefully one can anticipate an incremental growth scenario in the coming months too, said Dr. Mahesh Gupta.  

Going ahead, there is lot of potential for India to enhance its exports as 7 out of the top 10 export destinations of India such as USA, UAE, Hong Kong, China, UK, Singapore and Germany are also among the top ten export destinations of leading World exporters.

As these destinations are already in focus of our exporters, the need of the hour is to enhance our competitiveness in terms of  reduced costs of capital and improved exports logistics to increase our volumes of exports, said Dr. Mahesh Gupta.  

Going ahead, the continuous pace of reforms at domestic front and recovery in the international market would help India to remain in positive exports growth trajectory in the coming months.

INDUSTRY - FARMERS’ PARTNERSHIP NECESSARY FOR INCREASED SOY PRODUCTION: SPECIAL SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES

Special Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Mr. J P Meena on Thursday asked the India Inc. to establish partnership directly with the farmers for increased soy acreages, given its protein value for its large scale production and consumption.

Addressing a Workshop on Role of Soy in Health and Nutrition under aegis of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here today, Mr. Meena further emphasised that just as a massive campaign was launched to popularize eggs consumption under a title “Sunday ho ya Monday, Roz Khain Ande”, similar exercise needs to be initiated to propagate the use of soy for mass consumption as well as production.

The Special Secretary also explained that government has host of subsidized schemes to an extent of 50% for soy processing through mega food park up to an investment of Rs.50 crore in land to set up 4 to 5 soy processing plants.

“The other scheme is likely to be brought in by the Ministry of Food Processing to enable investors set up processing units in which the investments in plants and machineries could be up to Rs.10 crore, with government subsidizing to an extent of 35%”, said Mr. Meena.

He also urged industry to develop and diversify the domestic soy market and should not alone concentrate its efforts on exports as with the development of domestic market with this approach will bring in higher soy acreages by farmers under cultivation even if its productivity in Indian context is not at desired level.

In his welcome remarks, Vice President, PHD Chamber, Mr. Anil Khaitan also stressed the need for extensive efforts by industry to expand the soy production for its higher consumption as this would serve the twin needs for extensive soy production for mass consumption as well as enhancing its exports.

Among others who spoke with similar tone during the workshop comprised Senior Attache for Agricultural Affairs, US Embassy, Mr. J Jonn P Slette; Chairperson, Agribusiness Committee, PHD Chamber, Ms. Priyanka Mittal and Chairman, Kwality Dairy Industries Ltd, Dr. R S Khanna.

BCCI PRESIDENT ONE OF THE ATTRACTIONS OF 4TH PHD GLOBAL SPORTS CONVENTION-2016 ON FRIDAY THIS WEEK

President, BCCI, Mr. Anurag Thakur along with the Secretary, Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Mr. Rajiv Yadav and host of other such dignitaries of eminence, relating to sports landscape will assemble here at PHD House, New Delhi for the 4^th Global Sports Convention-2016 under its aegis here on Friday this week.

The flagship event of the PHD Chamber with a theme “Sports for All-The Ultimate Sporting Legacy” will be inaugurated by the President, BCCI in which Sports Excellence Awards will also be given away to sports personnel of different hue and cry to encourage them to excel in sports with a motto of attaining distinction for individuals and thereby for the nation as a whole.

India Inc. will be represented during the day long conference by President, Sr. Vice President, Vice President of the Chamber respectively Dr. Mahesh Gupta, Mr. Gopal Jiwarajka and Mr. Anil Khaitan with it’s Sports Committee Chairperson Ms. Neelam Pratap Rudy whereas the High Commissioner of Australia to India, Ms. Harinder Sidhu will also be present providing for global sports perspective among other dignitaries of similar scale.

The 4^th PHD Chamber Global Sports Convention will also deliberate upon variety of emerging sports issues, eliciting practically possible solutions to promote and propagate sports among all categories of human interests as also seriously work for providing a road map for a holistic development of Indian youth.

In a statement, Chairperson, Sports Committee, PHD Chamber, Ms. Neelam Pratap Rudy said that the convention will also provide for hosting panel discussions on creating a lifetime sporting legacy for the youth of India, suggesting ways and means for conquering challenges and optimizing opportunities in the field of sports.  It will also make ways for working out policy related suggestions for the government so that the sporting becomes pervasive in India with the sole objective of attaining distinctions in all sports that India can think of.

Lot of scope to reduce repo rate, competitive economies significantly better in costs of credit: PHD Chamber

While welcoming the third Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement for 2016-17 by RBI, Dr. Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that there is a lot of scope to reduce the repo rate as good monsoon is visible and inflationary expectations are also benign.

           

At this juncture, economy should be supported by lower interest rates to enhance the demand for durables and to boost up the manufacturing sector, said Dr. Gupta.

Cost of credit to businesses is high as compared with many competitive economies, impacting not only in the domestic market but also in the international markets, he said.

India’s repo rate at 6.5% is significantly higher as compared with the world’s 5 largest manufacturing countries including China (4.35%), United States of America (0.5%), Japan (-.1%), Germany (0) and Republic of Korea (1.25%).

Other competitive economies such as Thailand (1.5%), Hong Kong (0.75%), Malaysia (3%), Singapore (0.37%), Taiwan (1.38%) are significantly better than India in the costs of credit.

Going ahead, we expect a significant cut in repo rate to facilitate the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector and to compete in the international market, said Dr. Mahesh Gupta.

India better than leading export countries in diversification of destinations, competitiveness crucial to generate export volumes: PHD Chamber

India is better placed in the diversification of export destinations as concentration of exports to its top ten export destinations is 51% as compared to top ten leading export countries of World Hong Kong (81%), Japan (70%), Netherlands (68%), Republic of Korea (67%), UK (65%), USA (63%), Germany (60%), China (59%), France (59%) and Italy (57%), said an analysis conducted by PHD research Bureau of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

More the percentage is that country is highly exporting to few destinations and lesser the percentage is country is more diversified to a large number of export destinations.  

Notwithstanding the excellent diversification of export markets, cost of credit, volatile exchange rate, poor logistics and export infrastructure impede competitiveness and increase in export volumes, said Dr. Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry

The top 10 exporting economies across the world are China, USA, Germany, Japan, France, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Netherlands, UK and Italy. 

The share of the top ten leading exporters in total world exports is estimated at around 55% of China contributes highest at 14% followed by USA (9,2%), Germany (8.2%), Japan (3.8%), France (3.5%), Republic of Korea (3.2%), Hong Kong (3.1%), Netherlands (2.9%)and Italy (2.8%), said the analysis conducted by Research Bureau of PHD Chamber.

However, all the leading export countries posted a negative growth in 2015 except France.  

Export growth was negative in Netherlands (-17%), Italy (-13%), Germany (-11%), UK (-9%), Republic of Korea (-8%), USA (-7%), Hong Kong (-5%), China (-3%) and positive in France at (1%).

However, India stands 19^th in the list of exporters (worldwide) with merchandise exports valued at US $264.38 billion. India’s share in World exports is estimated at 1.6% in the year 2015.

Going ahead, there is lot of potential for India to enhance its exports as 7 out of the top 10 export destinations of India such as USA, UAE, Hong Kong, China, UK, Singapore and Germany are also among the top ten export destinations of leading World exporters.

As these destinations are already in focus of our exporters, the need of the hour is to enhance our competitiveness to increase our volumes of exports, said Dr. Mahesh Gupta.  

Cost of credit is crucial to export competitiveness; the interest rate environment needs to be rationalized to increase the competitiveness of our exporters, he said

As MSME sector contributes around 40% in our exports, easy access to finance for the MSMEs sector is critical to revive the exports growth trajectory, to develop the strong manufacturing base and job creation. 

However, the MSMEs sector is finding very difficult to survive and attract fresh investments because of high interest rate environment since the last many years though the rate of inflation has come down drastically, said Dr. Gupta

PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, INDUSTRIES & COMMERCE, HARYANA ASSURES INDUSTRY TO SENSITIZE ITS LOWER BUREAUCRACY TO RESPOND TO ITS NEEDS

Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Haryana, Mr. Devender Singh on Saturday articulated that with new regime in place, several pro-active measures have been notified for the industrial development of the State, admitting that the notified decisions have not been percolated down the lower rung of bureaucracy and, therefore, their implementation is stuck up.

He, however, added that industrial applications if registered on prescribed portals and websites, it becomes the responsibility of the administration to facilitate their logical execution as it is closely monitoring such applications in time bound manner. 

Presiding over the Interactive Session with the Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Government of Haryana under aegis of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here today, Mr. Singh said, “the complaint has been coming to state administration by those claimant that have physically submit their applications to concerned department as such applications are not closely monitored”.

Therefore, if the applications for setting up industries in Haryana are registered with the concerned portal and websites, it becomes the responsibility of the state administration for their faster disposal and in case if such applications are found inadequate in any manner, the administration seeks information and clarity to entertain their quicker disposal.

Managing Director, HSIDC, Mr. Sudhir Rajpal who also spoke on the occasion, emphasized that closely 60 per cent of the industrial plots in Haryana at its different locations are lying vacant for suitable buyers and therefore, the corporation would soon come out with e-auction policy for their disposal.

According to him, the e-auction policy is very transparent and is without any pitfalls and even if it does not attract buyers as intended, possibly the Government of Haryana might come out with alternate pricing policy for such industrial landscapes so that these are disposed off for the faster industrialization and economic activities of the State.

In his welcome remarks, President, PHD Chamber, Dr. Mahesh Gupta praised the pro-active initiatives of the state of Haryana to make sure that industrial activities are expanded in the state with a speed faster than anticipated which was endorsed by Vice President, PHD Chamber, Mr. Anil Khaitan who was also present on the occasion with its Secretary General, Mr. Saurabh Sanyal.

Chairman, Haryana Committee, PHD Chamber, Mr. Pranav Gupta; President, Gurgaon Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Vikas Jain were also the participants during the occasion among others.

GST Bill will enhance GDP growth to double digits: PHD Chamber

While congratulating all the political parties in finding the common ground to amend the constitution for transition from tedious indirect taxes to a harmonised GST, Dr. Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that this historic move by the Government is commendable as India will move towards double digit growth trajectory in the next few years.

Currently, Indian economy is moving towards 8% growth in 2016-17 on account of various positivities such as good monsoon and uptick in the industrial activity, said Dr. Gupta.

GST will enhance India’s growth trajectory to 10% in the next few years by 2019-20.

However, states must be reaching agreement on the rates and processes to be adopted in the coming times, added Dr. Gupta.

GST would be beneficial for many policy reforms announced by the Government of India during the recent past, he said. Make in India program would also get a boost with improvement in ease of doing business by doing away with multiplicity of taxes and their cascading impact. GST will enhance production possibilities, attract FDIs and increase employment opportunities in the economy, added Dr. Gupta.

The implementation of GST will reduce the barriers between states and will make the country a common market, increase tax revenue for the states due to a wider tax base and better compliance, he added.

GST implementation will help in reducing tax evasion, enable greater control and facilitate efficient monitoring than the traditional taxation system. GST will create a common base and common rates across goods and services and reduce transaction costs, he said.

With the reduction in the compliance costs, our trade and industry will become more competitive leading to reduction in transaction costs, an increase in export competitiveness and lower domestic prices, added Dr. Gupta.

Going forward, the need of the hour is to spread awareness at a larger scale about the implementation procedure and advantages of GST to every citizen of the country, said Dr. Gupta.