GST will pave way for common, unified market, says CII

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised a day-long preparatory workshop on Friday to make industrialists understand the impact and opportunities offered by the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

“The CII believes amalgamation of a large number of central and state taxes into a single entity will mitigate the cascading or double taxation effect and pave way for a common unified market,” said Jai Agarwal, vicechairman, CII, Uttar Pradesh state council.

The GST would affect all industries, irrespective of the sector. It would impact the entire value chain of operations- procurement, manufacturing, distribution, warehousing, sales, and pricing.

Speaking on the occasion, commissioner, Commercial Taxes, UP, Mukesh Meshram said that in Uttar Pradesh, the GST department had started imparting training to employees, who can further train their junior staff.

“GST is much easier than the prevailing tax system in India. The manufacturing sector is very happy with the GST bill, whereas the trading sector is slightly unhappy due to misconceptions, which has to be addressed through proper information,” he added.

“It is expected to usher in a harmonised national market of goods and services and lead to a simplified, assessee-friendly tax administration system. Once implemented, it will include all central and state-level duties and taxes, thus making the country a national market that will contribute significantly to the growth of the economy,” Meshram added.

It may be pointed out that passage of the GST bill in Rajya Sabha is a revolutionary step towards indirect taxation reforms in India. The GST would be rolled out by April 2017 in the country. Expressing his views on GST, Amit Sarkar, member, regional committee on economic affairs and taxation, CII Northern Region, stated that the GST was now a reality due to political consensus in Rajya Sabha.

During the day-long workshop for industry, about 80 delegates from the industry from Lucknow, Kanpur, Faizabad and nearby areas attended the workshop.