Chennai: India has done “remarkably” well on the GST front to achieve what Germany took 14 years to do, a top German policy analyst has said.
Hailing the success of India in the implementation of GST, Peter Rimmele, Resident Representative to India, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, said it took Germany 14 years “to implement similar type of tax and put systems in place, while India has done this remarkably in 150 days, even though there are hurdles and challenged ahead”.
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) is a 62-year-year think-tank and consulting agency based near Bonn, Germany, highly rated for educating the citizens with a basis for political action through the research and analysis of current political trends. Rimmele was speaking at a seminar titled ‘GST-A Reality Check’ organised by the Madras Management Association in association with KAS, which included an interactive session for businessmen and consumers with members of the GST administration, Government of India.
Detailing demonitisation and GST implementation in India and the consequent “bouquets and brickbats” faced by the government, noted financial analyst and Thuglak editor S. Gurumurthy said, “No measures taken are either human or inhuman. It is the duty of the government to protect the interests of the state and their subjects and this singular thought is the trigger mechanism for both demonetisation as also introduction of GST. It would do well to remember that even strong economies like Australia and USA have resorted to demonetisation to successfully counter threats of counterfeit currencies in their nations”.
“Study of problems by practical and direct approach is the only way to assess the success as also generation of data for research … as more than 60 per cent of the business are in the un-organised sector consisting of 58 million units and handling 128 million jobs spread all over India. The government has not only reviewed policies and its impact on the people but have moved to introduce revisions in the GST regime to the advantage of the people at large”, Gurumurthy said.
Mr Kannan, Commissioner –GST & Central Excise, said the government had mounted outreach programmes to spread awareness of GST and seek feedback from the trade and the public “like never before”. Over 2000 mass contact programmes were done since GST was introduced, he said and cited the example of three such programmes in Namakkal, the largest trucking hub in South Asia and where three crore eggs are collected and distributed every day.
Pleading for incentives for the B2B segment passing on benefits from GST to the consumers, Kannan said if consumers shared information with the government on outlets where they feel the prices are high or where they paid prices inclusive of GST, it could “help track dodgers”. Also, by paying for their purchases in digitized money—credit/debit cards—the retailers would be compelled to record the sales transactions, “paving the way for discovery of new and probable assessees”, he said.
Speaking of the ‘unfinished agenda and challenges’ even amid the GST success stories, Santosh Dalvi, Head, Western India, Indirect Tax and National Head for Indirect Tax Compliance Outsourcing Services, KPMG India, said, “ During these 150 days, 72 lakh assesses migrated to the GST regime and 23.9 lakh new assessees registered for GST. Rs 94,000 crores has been collected in July, Rs 91,000 crores in August, Rs 93,141 crores in September and Rs 83,346 crores in October have been collected”.
He said GST led to the reduction in prices of inventory and of new stocks in the organised sector. The abolition of checkposts also helped the transport sector in saving in logistic costs. But, de-stocking of goods lowered the market activity. This resulted in slowdown in economy. “The huge accumulation of refunds on exports is also causing concern for the industry”, he said.
