New Delhi: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday asked industry to pass on the benefit of lower taxes under GST to consumers saying “profit is not a bad word, unjust enrichment is.” “Profit is not a bad word. But unfair enrichment is. And therefore the benefit of reduction in taxation is a benefit that consumers are entitled to. And that’s not a principle that can be seriously contested,” he said at the CII annual conference.
However, finance minister assured the industry that there will be no surprise when GST rates will be announced by the GST Council. “We are now in final stages of fixing tariffs for different commodities. The formula under which it is being done has also been explained and therefore nobody is going to be taken by surprise, it’s not going to be very significantly different (from present),” said Mr Jaitley.
GST law passed by the Parliament has proposed setting up an anti-profiteering body to see that benefits of tax cuts under GST are passed on to consumers. Some in the industry have been peeved at the provision of anti-profiteering in the GST bill calling in “retrograde”. The GST Council is meeting in Srinagar next month to decide which product will be taxed at what rate under the new indirect tax proposed to be rolled out from July 1. The Council has decided four rates of 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent.
Besides this there will be surcharge on some luxury and sin products for five years to fund compensation to states for any loss of revenue due to GST.
Finance minister said that abolition of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) is in the final lap and this will set the stage for more reforms in the FDI policy. “I am now in the final stages of doing away with the FIPB because 90 per cent of the investment in India comes under the automatic route. So for the balance 10 per cent, do we need multiple forums to give approval or (do) we need just one forum in one ministry?” he said.
