What industry expected when Modi government implemented GST

A serious issue that cropped up for exporters was the adverse effect on the benefits that were provided by the commerce ministry in the pre-GST regime and the delay caused by the GST network in executing the refund claims.

With the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), industry expected the government to continue to work towards a robust and faster indirect tax system, in its prursuit of improving the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in India. However, thanks to the scale of the reform, efforts are on to align various existing import-export policies with GST even after six months of its roll-out. A serious issue that cropped up for exporters was the adverse effect on the benefits that were provided by the commerce ministry in the pre-GST regime and the delay caused by the GST network in executing the refund claims. Due to these difficulties, the wafer-thin margins of exporters have been affected, and exporters were compelled to file petitions in high courts. The government, by taking up these problems in the GST Council meeting, and the courts, by providing interim reliefs, extended a helping hand to exporters. What must now be ensured is that this doesn’t become a case of ‘too little, too late’.

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