New Delhi, Sep 10 As India prepares to usher in the GST 2.0 era from September 22, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) Chairman Sanjay Kumar Agarwal spoke to IANS on a myriad of issues related to rate rationalisation and its impact on traders, exporters and the common man.
Here are some of the excerpts from the interaction:
Q: How can the Chinese market help Indian exporters tackle US tariff pressure?
A: It depends on what items are being exported to China, and because the exporters can always explore new markets, China can be one of them. So, if they find that they are competitive in entering the Chinese market, definitely, they can make a foothold there. There is always a possibility to enter into the new markets and regain.
Q: Should petrol and diesel be included under GST? Will this move benefit common people?
A: Petrol and diesel are presently subject to Central excise duty and VAT by states, and these two petroleum items fetch a substantial revenue to the states by way of VAT and to the Central government by way of central excise duty. So, looking to the revenue implications, it may not be possible to bring these items under the ambit of GST for the time being
Q: What will be the impact of GST rationalisation on input tax credit claims?
A: If I provide the details, the details are like that in case of exports, the supply is zero-rated, and in case of zero-rated supplies, a refund of the accumulated ITC is claimed. So now the GST council has recommended that, in the case of an identified and risk-evaluated taxpayer, a refund can be granted within 7 days and without the officer's intervention.
Q: What is the impact of GST rationalisation on the economy?
A: In the GST rate cut, one is that there is a huge simplification which has happened. And now there are only two rates, 18 per cent, which is the standard rate and 5 per cent, which is the merit rate.
Earlier, because of the multiple rates, there were a lot of disputes arising out of interpretation. And that was creating a lot of uncertainty in the minds of taxpayers. Now that uncertainty will go. This exercise has resulted in huge rate cuts on the majority of the items, the items which are used by the common man as daily necessities. The rate has been brought down from 12 per cent or 18 per cent to 5 per cent.
GST rationalisation will help tackle the US tariff impact. It may generate increased domestic consumption, new markets, logistic cost reduction, and make our exports more competitive. Exporters will have lower costs, and that will help them remain competitive in Europe too.
Q: What is the impact of duty reduction on gold?
A: On gold, the rate of duty remains the same, which is 3 per cent, a special rate on the lower side. Since there is no change, there is no impact on gold.
Q: Can the Indian economy be the third-largest economy in the world despite US tariffs?
A: The thing is that the Indian economy is otherwise growing at a fast pace in the large economies, and for that, a lot of investment from foreign institutional investors is also required. At times, we have received representations about the complicity in GST in India. Because when they make an investment decision, then, they consider the Indian economy with competitive economies in the world where they see an investment opportunity.
So once the GST law has been really made simple and transparent, so, for investment, the concerns earlier shown will disappear, and I think India will become a more attractive destination for making the investment. That will also help in India in its journey to become the 3rd largest economy in the world.
Q: How is the CBIC looking to minimise fraud?
A: In fact, this ITC fraud was the reason that the registration process was started, and there were many checks which were prescribed. So this will be a huge relief to those who want to come into the GST ecosystem, and this will help in making it more attractive to them, and they will be, in fact, nudged to become tax compliant, take the registration, and start discharging their GST liabilities.
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