PM, Jaitley go into huddle ahead of GST Council meet

Coming in the wake of unrest among trading community, the GST Council meeting on Friday may hand out more than mere quick fix solutions to businesses.

On the cards are tax concessions for exporters and small traders and a relaxation in rules for the filing of returns. Hours before the crucial meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP President Amit Shah went into a huddle to plan their strategies for a permanent solution to problems faced by small businesses in the wake of GST rollout, informed sources told DH.

These will further be discussed with the finance ministers of all the states who will assemble in the national capital on Friday to participate in the GST Council meeting. Jaitley is expected to spell out the measures once the meeting concludes.

A plan has already been prepared to allow exporters to do their goods and services exports without paying GST against an undertaking signed between them and the government for payment at a later date, sources said.

The unrest among traders, especially the textile hubs in Modi’s home turf Gujarat, which is facing Assembly elections later this year, has prompted the Centre to move faster to find solutions.

Sources said that there could be even a tax rate rejig once again in the GST Council meeting as the pain points of employment generating sectors such as textiles, leather and gems and jewellery have increased.

Exporters have been complaining that the delay in getting the refund under the new GST regime has left them with the severe cash crunch and almost no money to even pay salaries and bonus to their employees ahead of Diwali.

Small and medium business have said their working capital has been locked because the GST requires paying taxes first and applying for input credit at a later stage. The new system, they say, has increased their compliance burden.

Modi had on Wednesday acknowledged the headwinds emanating out of GST implementation and assured businesses that their problems will be quickly resolved.

For solving the technical glitches at the earliest, IT firm Infosys, which is managing IT infrastructure of GST Network, has been asked to send teams in each and every state to assist tax administration.