India Inc Cheers on GST Bill but Wary of Procedural Hurdles

GST Bill has been termed as a “transformational” legislation, and is expected to spur will growth by 1.5-2 percent.

The GST bill is being touted as the biggest tax reform in the history of independent India. (Photo: The Quint)

Cheering the passage of the long pending GST Bill in the Rajya Sabha, India Inc on Wednesday said the roll out of the much-awaited indirect tax reform will contribute significantly to the growth of the economy and bring down the overall cost of goods and services.

Stuck in a limbo for months, the GST Bill finally sailed through the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday after opposition parties gave their go ahead for the introduction of what is being touted as the biggest tax reform in the history of independent India.

Also Read: ‘Historic Day for India’: Politicos React After GST Bill is Passed

Milestone in India’s Economic Reforms

Terming GST as the “biggest reform in the field of taxes in the country”, Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) Director General, Chandrajit Banerjee said:

GST is expected to remove the cascading effects of various multi-level indirect taxes on goods and services ...It will bring in much needed transparency and higher investments in the coming years and we hope that a few percentage points to India’s GDP will be added through higher tax revenue and investments.

Wipro CEO Abidali Z Neemuchwala exuded confidence that implementation of GST would go a long way in strengthening the economy “as one common market for taxation”.

Terming GST Bill as a “transformational” legislation, Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said:

The transformational legislation will not just significantly improve ease of doing business in a vast and complex federal setup like ours by creating a single market but will help prop up our GDP growth rate by an additional 1.5 – 2 percent.

Adi Godrej, Chairman of Godrej Group In an interview to CNBC, explained how the GST Bill willl help in filling the coffers of the government.

A lot of direct tax evasion in our country is because of indirect tax evasion. Once indirect tax evasion comes to a very low level, direct tax evasion will also come along. Government revenues could rise and in the long-term government could reduce the rates of the GST quite considerably.

Automotive Industry Welcomes the Tax Reform

Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa also welcomed the passage of the GST Bill in Rajya Sabha. He said that the automotive industry wholeheartedly welcomes the tax reform, however adding that fast implementation will be critical in determining its success.

Assocham President, Sunil Kanoria termed it as a milestone in India’s economic reforms. He, however, said the biggest challenge is to make it people friendly.

Here’s how the major voices of the industry reacted to the passage of the bill.

Dalal Street Cheers for GST

Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO of India’s biggest private bank, ICICI, in a report published in The Economic Times spoke of the importance of the passage of the GST bill.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill is the most important reform in indirect taxation in India ever...Consumers will see lower prices in the medium term, businesses will able to operate more efficiently and the Government will see a broadening of its tax base along with ease of tax collection.

Kamlesh Rao, CEO of Kotak Securities said that the introduction of GST will send out a strong signal to the international markets that India is serious about reforms.

Word of Caution Against Making GST a Procedural Nightmare

Nasscom however urged the government not to make Goods and Services Tax a procedural nightmare.

The apex body of the IT industry said that it wants the government to ensure that GST does not become negative from point of view of ease of doing business.

Nasscom has already made suggestions to the Centre to address the concerns of IT services providers in the model GST law, which is likely to come up in two to three months.

Nasscom President R. Chandrasekhar told reporters here that while they welcome the GST which will unify the country as one tax regime, they hope that the government will address their concerns.

(With PTI and IANS Inputs)