In his recent statement to the media, Bijay Kumar, Chief Commissioner of GST, Central Excise and Customs, Kolkata Zone, believes that the recently implemented Goods and Services Tax would bring down the costs of goods, in addition to bringing in transparency to the tax system.
The Goods and Service Tax (GST) Conclave was conducted by the Business Line in Kolkata on Saturday. “We have undertaken a sectoral study and our assessment suggests that there will be an overall reduction in cost if GST is implemented properly”, said Kumar.
Tax Officials who had attended the recently held GST Conclave Meeting are Superintendent CGST, DD Chatterjee; Assistant Commissioner of CGST and CX, JB Datta; Assistant general manager, State Bank of India, Bengal Circle, Anil Tiwari; Chartered accountants, Subham Khaitan and Manish Gadia; and Joint Commissioner of GST, Central Excise and Customs, Kolkata Zone, KGVN Surya Teja.
The newly implemented Goods and Services Tax (GST) Regime must absolutely have the multiple rate structure. One slab rate is not feasible in a country like India where there are different income groups of people. Kumar said, “India is a country where there is the wide disparity between different income groups. At this juncture, we are not in a position to have a single-rate structure.”
While speaking about the impacts of the new indirect tax regime on iron and steel industry, Superintendent CGST, DD Chatterjee, pointed out that it is expected that the new regime will reduce the transportation time by 30-40 per cent. This should ultimately bring a certain decrease in the cost of logistics. He further added that the cost of heavy items such as iron, steel, and all other metals might reduce by two per cent as a result.
Chatterjee said, “A single taxation authority would make compliance easier and will bring about a better-integrated credit chain. The cascading effect of the tax on end consumer will also be done away with.”
The textile industry is facing a tough time with the implementation of GST, due to the different slab rates on fibre, yarn, fabric, and apparel. Though that would be done away with under GST, the net average cost of the textile industry might get marginally higher due to the high tax rates on ready-made garments.
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According to Surya Teja, Joint Commissioner of GST, Central Excise, and Customs, Kolkata Zone, under the newly implemented Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Council is more concentrated on facilitation of jobs instead of the implementation of GST. The Government, along with the Council, conducted more than 350 outreach programs on GST, to spread awareness among people about the new regime. The efforts of results have proven, with the Kolkata city being listed on the top position for fresh registrations under the GST.
The window for the fresh registrations under GST was opened on 7th July for the taxpayers who were not registered under the previous regime i.e., VAT, excise and service tax. Teja said, “West Bengal accounts for nearly 10 per cent of the total number of new registrations recorded from across the country. We have undertaken more than 350 outreach programs. We have also reached out to schools,” Teja said.
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Anil Tiwari, AGM of the State Bank of India Bengal Circle, said that the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) would reduce the burden of taxes as well as improve the cash flow in the banking industry. He further added, “We have set up three help desks in West Bengal to help our customers understand GST. The journey so far has been satisfactory.”
All the 24000 SBI branches were enrolled under Goods and Services Tax Regime (GST) before the actual implementation of the new indirect regime on 1st July.
Manish Gadia and Subham Khaitan, Chartered Accountants, who also attended the Conclave, helped people gain useful information of filing returns under GST. They solved the queries and issues of the people regarding GST at the conclave in Kolkata.
