After demonetisation, traders fear tech-based GST
NEW DELHI/GURGAON: Traders in Delhi’s biggest wholesale market Sadar Bazar feel that if demonetisation was the first blow, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be the second as it will affect their business further and a lot of traders will perish due to the added tax burden.
Their main concerns were about compliance to the new tax regime and the tax slabs.
The essence of the success of a pan-India uniform tax regime is going to be technology but that is what scares the traders of Sadar Bazar. Deepak Mendiratta, president of Sadar Thana Road Vyapar Mandal said, “Under the GST Law, we will have to fill three returns monthly and one annually. We work on very less margin and it’s difficult to keep a tab on such technicalities.”
But the government assures that once GST is rolled out and its benefits are felt, these initial hiccups will disappear.
“Traders will have to fill up GST Return 1 and the other two will be auto-populated. So people should not be so apprehensive. Only if inputs are missing, they will have to be filled manually,” said Arun Goyal, additional secretary of GST Council.
But traders fear that their cost will increase as they have to pay more to accountants. “Also, taking most services online is unfair to the principle of promoting ease of doing business as people here are not technically very strong,” Mendiratta said.
Rishi Sachdeva, general secretary of All India handbag manufacturers and Traders association said, “Once GST would be enforced, the leather goods will be taxed at 28% as it is a luxury good. Earlier, we paid 12.5%.”
Similar grievances were expressed by traders dealing in scientific apparatus and instruments such as microscopes, models and teaching aids. “Classifying microscopes, models and teaching aids, which are used in education and health sector, will not just increase the costs but also deter the schools and hospitals that have less funds from buying it,” said Jasmeet Singh, a trader and member of Confederation of Educational and Scientific Trade Association, adding, on one hand the government talks of promoting Sarv Shikhsha Abhiyan and Operation Black Board and on the other such moves defeat the purpose.
Jewellers of Sadar Bazar in Gurgaon expressed similar concerns as the tax has increased from 1% to 3%. “There are meetings seminars and discussions by government but there is no clarity,” said Dr Mandeep Kishore Goel, chairman, Shriram Jewellers in Sadar Bazar.
Fear among wholesalers and retailers across Delhi-NCR is palpable. There is fear among the traders regarding a difficult compliance regime and goods becoming dearer for the customers. “The GST Council’s decisions on tax rates are done after careful consideration so that the tax rate under GST does not increase. Goods of large consumption have either been kept out the tax purview or at the lowest slab,” said Goyal.