CII: GST on processed foods must be low or 0

The Goods and Services Tax Bill is best known for eliminating the multiplicity of taxes, rates, exemptions and exceptions.

It achieves a uniformity in taxes across territories, regardless of place of manufacture or distribution.

The GST will ensure tax compliance throughout the country.

It will also lead to an improvement in the international cost competitiveness of native goods and services.

The GST will reduce the average tax burden and production costs incurred by companies.

This will benefit the corporates as the exports will become more competitive.

It will also simplify tax structure, broaden the tax base and create a common market across states.

This will lead to an increase in tax compliance and will increase India's tax to gross domestic product ratio.

MP Bhartruhari Mahtab from the BJD said, "We are in favour of the bill. We support it."

Rajya Sabha MP of TDP, T Devender Goud, said, "If it benefits the country, we will definitely support it."

Sanjay Raut from Shiv Sena, a Rajya Sabha MP said, "There is no opposition to GST. We have submitted a memorandum on our demands to the government."

The government has distributed official amendments to the GST bill and this includes Congress' demand to drop 1 percent additional manufacturing tax.

It also included providing a specific provision in the law for recompensing states for income loss for 5 years as the Government tables GST in Rajya Sabha on 3rd August.

GST Council will also set a mechanism for adjudication of conflicts.

In the 1954, France became the first country to adopt the GST. Today, more than 140 countries have implemented it.

Brazil and Canada follow a dual system where both Union and State Governments levy GST.

GST in China is applicable only to goods and the provision of repairs, replacement and processing services.

The U.S does not have a national level VAT.

The GST bill became a law as the Rajya Sabha approved the bill.

The upper house approved 6 amendments, this included forsaking 1% additional tax.

The new law will now subsume all indirect taxes which will cover central excise duty and state VAT/sales tax.

The bill will return to the Lok Sabha to include the amendments ratified by the Rajya Sabha.

On 4th August, 2015, the Finance Ministry assured everybody about its firm intent to roll out GST by 1st April, 2017.

It also put to rest fears that GST will have an impact on inflation despite the 20% rate.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, along with junior ministers and top bureaucrats, told the media that a detailed roadmap to meet the deadline was ready.

The biggest taxation reform in the country, Goods and Services Tax, is not far from becoming an Act.

On 8th August, 2016, 11 years after the Bill was first introduced by the then Finance Minister P.Chidambaram, Parliament passed the amended GST Bill.

443 members present in Lok Sabha all voted in favour, except for AIADMK, who walked out before the voting could begin.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated that tax evasion and low tax rates cannot co-exist.

He was responding to a question in parliament seeking to reduce the GST rate from 18% to 17%.

Jaitley stated that tax evasion in India has reduced the country's tax revenue, forcing higher taxation rates.

He stated that until all citizens pay taxes on time, rates will be high.

The government is considering pushing the GST roll-out to mid-2017 instead of April 1, as the full scale implementation of GST would take more time.

Sources said that after it is passed by the budget session of parliament, industry bodies have little or no time to adapt to the changes.

Industry officials have asked for 6 months preparation time after the GST is finalised.

The Confederation of Indian Industry has stated that the GST rate on processed foods must be low or 0.

CII said that the country cannot afford to have high taxes, considering the fact that food inflation is already over 6 percent.

It added that unless such steps are implemented, the benefit of processed foods prices will not reach the consumers.