Kolkata|
CS Mamta Binani, National President, ICSI threw her weight behind GST and welcomed the landmark Constitutional (122nd Amendment ) Bill, 2014 in a recent meet. She said, “It is a proactive step towards the development of Indian economy bringing us one step closer to joining hands with the Global Economy. It shall be the most comprehensive single tax system for the economy proving to be a great boost in the direction of attracting investments”
Elaborating she explained, builder-manufacturers will have to pay 15-18% tax as opposed to 25-30% as of now. The total impact will be reduction of overall prices of goods and commodities by 7-10%. This will create a growth swing in GDP from current 0.9% to almost 1.9%.
Though the manufacture-driven states will suffer initially but yet the inflation will stabilize within one and half years. As proof of concept she said about 140 countries currently have GST and all are doing fine – specially Brazil and Canada who have the same federal structure as India.
Those companies have already adopted GST are happy as check-post times have reduced, specially beneficial for those dealing with perishable goods, as have warehousing costs. Market is reflecting the positives as share prices are on the rise.
Though some states and MSEs are yet to warm up to GST, Mamta warns that all states have to adopt it within a year or they’ll lose the privilege to tax. About 60Lac people will come under GST she said.
Regarding specificity of rates the Flow rates have to be decided first then the respective slabs.
Furthermore, ICSI has devised a ‘GST Awareness Drive’ to create widespread awareness and to facilitate capacity building of its members and other professionals who’ll fall in the spectrum of GST by undertaking the following activities:
- Special publications showcasing the reach and strength of GST
- Chartered Secretary Special issue on GST
- Special Webinar Classes on GST
- Exclusive Corner on GST on ICSI’s website icsi.edu.
- Awareness Programmes, Seminars, Sharing of Knowledge material
- Panel discussion etc. on GST.
- Symposiums on “Goods & Services Tax” in all major cities.