New Delhi, July 8 (Agency) The GST Council will take decisions which will benefit states and the country, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad said on Friday. Addressing the ‘GST Conclave-Stride Towards GST 2.0: Five Years of GST’, organized by FICCI, Prasad, who is also Member of Group of Ministers on rate rationalisation under GST, said since the last five years of GST implementation, there has been 52 per cent increase in collections compared between 2017-18 and 2021-22.
“GST is one of the best systems which is supporting the business and industry,” he noted. Enumerating the benefits post GST regime, Prasad said it has facilitated ease of doing business for the businesses by bringing various taxes under one umbrella. “The focus has been on simplification of processes under GST, benefiting the common man and GST implementation has ended the inspector raj,” he said. Suresh Kumar Khanna, Minister of Finance, Uttar Pradesh, and Member, Group of Minister on Rate Rationalisation under GST, said currently three Group of Ministers (GoM) are functional including the GoM on pan masala along with casino and online gaming. “The meeting of the GST Council is on 12th July where decisions will be taken on rate rationalisation,” he added.
To further facilitate Ease of Doing Business for the industry, the Minister said a GoM has been constituted to set up the GST Tribunal. “This is needed and soon the process of setting up of the tribunal will be accelerated,” he said. The registration process has been further simplified along with a time-bound refund process which is benefiting the taxpayers. “On one hand the process of GST has been simplified and on the other hand, there has been an increase in GST collections as well. GST has improved ease of doing business along with uniformity in tax rates. With the current system of GST functioning, I hope to achieve newer targets and heights,” he added. Subhrakant Panda, Senior Vice President, FICCI, and Managing Director, Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys Ltd said “currently, GST covers only 60 per cent of economic activity and it is time to include petroleum products and natural gas under the ambit of GST”. He further urged for the setting up of an Appellate Tribunal to reduce the burden on the High Courts. “FICCI also recommends a review of ‘deeming fiction’ provisions of self-supply and cross-change to ease the compliance burden and improve ease of doing business,” he added.