Industries Reactions

“We are happy to state that the GST system is functioning well with around a crore returns being filed seamlessly every month. GST has clocked an average revenue collection of approximately Rs. 90,000 crores a month in the first year, with the same crossing Rs 1 lakh crore in April. As many as 12 crore returns have been filed till date and 380 crore invoices processed. The taxpayer is now better informed and more familiar with GST portal and the errors in filing have also reduced substantially,” said Dr. A B Pandey, Chairman, GSTN.

“The last one year has seen its fair share of ups and downs from a GST perspective. Businesses have had a tough time in coming to terms with the new law, the new processes and complying with GST. Industries across saw an initial slowdown but now slowly things are inching towards stability. The government too on its part has been working towards making things simple for the businessman and applying corrections as per feedback received from the ground. However, the new simplified regime proposed some time back hasn’t moved enough which is supposed to make it absolutely simple for businesses to comply and greater certainty over input tax credit” , said Mr. D S Rawat, Secretary General - ASSOCHAM

“India’s new unified nationwide value-added system of taxation has come a long way in simplifying the complex tax structure of the country by replacing around 17 federal and state levies to unify a country of 1.3 billion people into one of the world’s biggest common market with minimal cascading and no double taxation, to promote ease of doing business”, Mr. Bimal Jain, Chairman, Indirect Taxes Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry added.

Bharat Goenka, Managing Director, Tally Solutions, Pvt Ltd commented, “To begin with, getting a country the size of ours to do a complete transformation on the indirect tax front has been extraordinary in itself and something we should take a lot of heart from. What has been particularly encouraging is the continued commitment of the government to seek feedback from stakeholders on rules and processes and apply required corrections from time to time.”

Dinesh Chandra Tripathi, President, Federation of Indian Small

and Micro Enterprises (FISME), The GST rate reduction a good move. It will boost the demand and spending of respective sectors. It was being demanded by FISME at various forums and government was convinced also.

Badish Jindal, President, Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association (FOPSIA): The GST system still requires to be streamlined. The government

has only reduced the duty where the misuse of taxes was there as large number of paints and varnish bills were consumed in industry by paying just 4% against the 28% GST on invoices. Similarly on the same lines people started misuse of electrical devices by showing them consumed in industries. The e-way bill is creating a lot of hurdles and need immediate attention of government. Also, the items coming under inverted duty structure such as bicycle are facing big difficulty in getting the GST refunds.

C.K. Mohan, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu Small and Tiny Industries Association (TANSTIA): It’s a welcome move as GST rate for most of the consumer goods has been reduced but still with respect to engineering job work where 18% is being charged has not been addressed despite continuous representation. Also, automobile component are still at 28% which needs to be reduced to 12% as number of industries are more in Tamil Nadu dealing with these. These are the two main issues which have not been addressed by the GST Council.

Harpreet Singh, Partner - Indirect Tax, KPMG Like any evolving reform, implementation of GST also brought with it various ambiguities and equivocal provisions. Though the intention of GST was to have a simplified tax regime, issues like double taxation (for example, goods deposited in customs bonded warehouse), misplaced/omitted transitional provisions, credit blockages, uncertainty on reversal of credit, added a layer of complexity surrounding GST.

Praveen Khandelwal, General Secretary, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT): Since, it was altogether a new taxation system and much different from previous tax regimes, there are several challenges in adoption and acceptance of GST. There are mixed reaction about GST on its completion of one year among trading communities and small business of the country. However for priorities of next year issues like filing of multi-returns, refunds from department, awareness and education about GST fundamentals and its compliance obligations needs immediate attention of government. A comprehensive incentive scheme should be given to traders who adopt digital payments for complying tax obligations and use digital payment in their day to day business by allowing rebate in tax. Also, it is necessary that pending amendments in GST Act should be done as early as possible. Instead of monthly returns, quarterly returns should be prescribed on Form 3B to make return filing simpler.

Sunil Vaish, President, Indian Industries Association (IIA): With time it is being established in the system. Industrialists are following GST though there are some anomalies in the GST network but government is working to update them. Tax rate anomalies will also be addressed soon.GST network is also stable now and with time it’s all weaknesses will be overcome.