Addressing the members of the Bangalore Chamber of Industry & Commerce (BCIC), Mitra said, “I expect that industry here would be able to leverage the factual postion with regard to the Goods & Services Tax to the Karnataka governement.”
In response to BCIC’s recommendation that a uniformity in GST law should exist between the Centre and states, Mitra explained, “We are unable to bridge the gap between us and the states.
In such a case, industry has a role to play. We appeal to you that if you think GST is important and gives India the ability to compete at a global level, then you must help urge respective state governements to be supportive.” He said that in terms of the government working for GST, teams have been set up and are working on writing Central GST legislation and model state GST legislations. He also mentioned that GST IT network, would be rolled out in June this year as a pilot project between the Centre and 11 states. “It is a single portal for registration, returns and payment,” he said.
On people raising apprehensions about GST, Mitra mentioned that any new policy gets perfected over a period of time through suitable changes even if it is not the best at the beginning.
On the revenue front he said, Indian revenue collections’ position this year have been extremely satisfactory. “We have broadened the base, moderated tax rates and encouraged voluntary compliance. All these has paid off well,” he added. Thus the total revenue collection target by the Centre for the last financial year was raised to Rs 7.82 lakh crore from Rs 7.45 lakh crore.
