Letters: Master negotiator

GST's introduction, which looked like a lost case after demonetisation, has been resurrected

The front-page lead report, “GST set for July 1 roll-out, dual control hurdle over” (January 17), by Dilasha Seth and Indivjal Dhasmana shows what a master negotiator Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (pictured) is. The introduction of the goods and services tax, which looked like a lost case in the aftermath of demonetisation, has been resurrected thanks to his astuteness and credibility. He has managed to convince those opposing GST about its good points. West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra’s protests against GST notwithstanding, there is every chance that GST will be enforced from July 1.

That the resolution of dual control cases will be done by a machine eliminates the bone of contention that human subjectivity could have brought in. The formula arrived at — 10-90 for a turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore and 50-50 for the bigger ones — seems very fair.

Of course, an enormous amount of work still needs to be done before the GST can be rolled out. This includes the mechanics of bringing in millions of traders across states and Union territories within the ambit of GST and putting in place the software and network that would ensure seamless connectivity. But the government has been proactive and a lot has been accomplished already. The GST network already has millions of entities registered under it for payment of value-added tax, service tax, central excise etc and the system seems ready to take on the challenge of uploading every invoice. Whichever firm is handling the task is doing it rather well.

Sure, there would be glitches — even litigation — in the initial stages, but the final product after fine-tuning will do a lot of good to the country and the business community. It would also help quash the parallel black economy. GST would be nothing short of a revolutionary structural change. Godspeed to Jaitley and his colleagues.

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