Road to GST: Big Developments

Today is a crucial day for the rollout of goods and services tax (GST) and some of the best tax experts in the country shared their readings and outlook on the GST.

Here's how tax and industry experts are viewing the big developments of GST:

Harishankar Subramanian, Partner, EY

"Goods that are attracting a rate of 12 percent and 5 percent will remain at 40 percent. 18 percent and above will go to 60 percent which is a pretty good relief. It may not be an entire relief that can cover the embedded taxes but a pretty good relief."

Nitin Khandelwal, Chairman, All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation

"Now the gem and jewellery industry will be an organised sector and we will try to do our best."

Pratik Jain, PWC India

"The concern for us is how the effective rate of tax has been computed by the government and it is not only for biscuits, but other products also. Biscuits, Finance Minister mentioned 20.6 percent for items which are currently exempt from excise duty. He mentioned about Octroi, but that is there only in one state, Maharashtra. So, how these numbers come up because the biscuit industry believes their effective tax rate is in the range of 11-12 percent."

S Subramaniam, CFO, Titan

"It is a very good move, 3 percent is a very good rate. We have been voting it would be somewhere between 2 and 3 percent and it is very welcome. The direction that the government has been taking over the last few years in getting this industry more and more organised with demonetisation and restrictions on cash etc, I think this is in the right direction because 3 percent is a rate which I do not think customers will have problems in paying and therefore, the shift towards organised sector and therefore higher collections to the government as a whole is something that we are going to see."

MS Mani, Deloitte

"I am delighted at the fact that the deemed transition credits have been kept at 60 percent. I only wish this had been extended to all categories and not only the 18 percent category. I am also happy that 3 percent has been maintained for gold and as I mentioned before, this is something which indicates that the government is willing to look at genuine requests which are made in order to prevent any form of tax movement across states. What I would like to know and for which I am not too sure is June 11 when the next meeting is being convened is getting closer and closer to the GST rollout date and if we are going to now have possibly weekly or bi-weekly meetings between now and July 1, how do people prepare, what does that indicate. We also heard that some of the formats of the returns are being revised, what this signifies in terms of people who have already made those changes in business."

Rohan Shah, Tax Expert

"I think concerns will continue to remain. This is far too momentous change as a nation and as an economy for us not to have ongoing problems. I do not think this is the last day in the life of GST. You will see more in the meeting of June 11 and you will continue to see more over a period of time."

V Lakshmikumaran, Founder & Managing Partner, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys

"The government is listening to us and they have definitely given the concession regarding 60 percent credit for the transition credit and the rates of taxes on yarn and fabrics have also been clearly understood."

Sachin Menon, KPMG

"In the current circumstances, the government could not have done a better job because it is a tight rope walking is the exercise what they are going through."