Skill India's certified professionals to help in GST implementation

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) announced a national training programme to certify GST practitioners under its flagship scheme of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), to make the country's passage to the new tax regime, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime smooth and glitch free.

"It's a historic reform that the government has brought in. We welcome this change and will contribute to our best of efforts to align to the new regime," said Union Minister of State (I/C) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

"The government understands the relevance and importance of vocational education for the youth of this country and the impact it can have on the economy. It will be a step towards improving the quality of vocational training, reduction in cost of the training and incentivizing training providers for conducting NSQF compliant trainings," added Rudy.

"India is at the cusp of an economic revolution and this also means there would be a thrust on job creation. The new tax regime will create an integrated national market which will boost domestic demand, create more opportunities for domestic business and drive job creation. GST will boost hiring by 11 percent across sectors. Skill India will actively contribute to the new tax regime. We are going to launch GST training program to equip the candidates with the relevant skill sets in order to be an efficient GST professional. This GST certification course will help candidates to explore wider opportunities in the job market," he added.

The PMKVY course will equip the candidates with the relevant skills to benefit from the job opportunities that GST will generate. The tax reform is expected to fuel demand for professionals in various segments of the economy as mid- and small-sized companies are likely to outsource similar activities to third party account firms.

The formal inauguration of pilot course on GST Consultants was done in Delhi by K P Krishnan Secretary, MSDE. The trainings have right now begun in Delhi, Bangalore and Bhopal. The course is planned to train the youth on GST norms across three cities and training partners namely: Delhi- IL&FS Skills; Bangalore- Rooman Technologies; Bhopal - AISECT.

"Our skilled workforce will soon be seen helping many with enrolling and migration to GST as well. We are training able professionals with sound knowledge about the new rules and compliances so that they can support enterprises and individuals to file returns under the new law. This initiative under Skill India will not only support the government in seamless implementation of GST through consultants who can provide handholding support to the public through their acquired knowledge but also provide livelihood opportunities through self-employment to all the consultants," added Krishnan.

The draft curriculum for the program has been reviewed by the National agency for Customs, Excise and Narcotics (NACEN) and BFSI SSC has incorporated the same. The revised curriculum is now with NACEN and NIFM for formal approval. BFSI SSC has already identified Master Trainers to train the pool of trainers for the job role.

The launch of the GST Consultant Training program across at least 100 training centers is scheduled for July 15, 2017 on the second anniversary of the World Youth Skill Day.

The training will be provided under a PMKVY 100-hour module on various aspects of GST enabling the youth to cater to the urgent need of professionals who are well equipped with the basic concept GST such as Incidence of taxation, Registration under GST and Calculation of Tax liability.

Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries and Cost and Management Accountants holding COP, advocates and graduates and post graduates in commerce, banking, statistics, economics, financial markets, business administration and management will be eligible for the training. Retired government officials too can choose the training program for their second career options.