GIVE US 9 MONTHS TO REMOVE ANOMALIES IN GST: MOS, FINANCE AT PHD CHAMBER

Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Shiv Pratap Shukla on Saturday urged the people of India and India Inc. in particular to give the government of the day a time of 9 months to remove all glitches and loopholes that still prevail in Goods and Services Tax and that GST implementation in three months should not be measured with cynical eyes.

Inaugurating a National Conclave on GST-A Catalyst for Economic Growth & Ease of Doing Business under aegis of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here today, Mr. Shukla also indicated that higher GST tax slab of 28% is bound to be gradually reduced as the GST Council would evolve alternative mechanism to this effect in its subsequent meetings and its forthcoming meeting in Guwahati would yield some results on this front.

“The people of India and Indian industry in particular should not measure the execution of GST in its first phase of three months since it is such a vast tax reform after independence and the government should be given a minimum of year time for its perfect implementation which would lead to win-win situation for all stakeholders”, said the minister.

“The GST Council has already taken pro-active measures in rationalizing GST rates in the recent past and the trend would continue in future wherever the taxation is deemed to be slightly on the higher side.   The 28% GST tax slab would fall as per genuine and legitimate aspirations of the people in general and industry in particular”, concluded the minister.

Finance Minister, Government of Haryana, Capt. Abhimanyu who also spoke on the occasion emphasized  that the real purpose of GST would be served with its perfect and completion alignment with people of India and industry and urged the cynical voices not to post-mortem GST with negativity as its implementation has commenced since July 1st, 2017 and government would need time for course corrections.

According to him, the GST regulations cannot be completely done away with so as to ensure that all its benefits are passed on to the last consumer as it is the vital part of the GST with other stakeholders such as industry and the like.

In his welcome remarks, President, PHD Chamber, Mr. Gopal Jiwarajka said that GST has completed three months after its implementation and there have been mixed impact on various sectors of the economy.  It is heartening to note that the prices of essential and mass consumer items have not increased and suggested that a sort of another surgical strike is called for to remove anomalies that still prevail in GST.

Chairman, Indirect Taxes Committee, PHD Chamber, Mr. Bimal Jain praised the government for its pro-active approach towards industry as he described that the government has been lending its ears wherever problems relating to GST arise and demanded that Advance Ruling Authority should be set up earlier to serve its intended objectives.

According to him, the transition for trade and industry to the new taxation system is not smooth.  There are hiccups in GSTN portal for ensuring compliance including return filing.  There are other problems like the delay in refund claim, transitional credit problems for industries in hilly states, distortions in tax rates and others.

Among others who were present on the occasion comprised Member (GST), CBEC, Mr. Mahender Singh; CEO, GSTN, Mr. Prakash Kumar; Former President, PHD Chamber, Mr. Sanjay Bhatia.