In the meeting with the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST in New Delhi today, CII congratulated the Central and State Governments for coming together in a paradigm of cooperation and consensus to make GST a reality.

In its presentation before the Empowered Committee, CII emphasized that GST is India's most significant tax reform in decades. It is expected to usher in a harmonized national market of goods and services and shall lead to a simplified, assessee-friendly tax administration system. Once implemented, it will subsume all of the Central and State-level duties and taxes, thus making the country a national market and would contribute significantly to the growth of the economy.

“GST would help in the endeavor of 'One India, One Common Market' and contribute greatly to the ease of doing business in the country. India can also become more globally competitive with the introduction of GST through reduced expenditure on transport and logistics as well as removal of cascading taxes and multiple levies. We expect that GST would add at least 1 percentage point to the GDP growth rate," said Dr Naushad Forbes, President, CII.

Dr Forbes further mentioned that the GST Law should provide for seamless movement of goods without any rigid administrative requirements that will delay transit and add to costs. There should be a foolproof mechanism of movement of goods between states and a single registration process, and industry should not be subjected to dual administration of assessment, audit, etc. both by Centre and States. There should be a sense of trust and faith in the industry while framing simple and easy to follow legislation, with a confidence that industry shall be an equal partner with the Government in taking this great initiative forward together, stated Dr Forbes.

Addressing the Empowered Committee, Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, reiterated that “GST is a game-changer for India. We hope that the standard tax rate would be kept at a reasonable level of 18% which would greatly contribute to growth, employment and incomes, and boost Indian industry's global competitiveness.”

30 August 2016

New Delhi