T'gana likely to benefit from GST: Rao

Telangana is likely to make some gains after the GST rollout and it has nothing much to lose, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said here today.
"Fundamentally, it appears that by the GST, the state has something (to) gain, not much to lose," a release from his office quoted him as saying during a meeting with the state officials on the new tax regime.
The officials pointed out that since petrol, diesel and excise have been exempted from the GST, it will have no adverse effect on 50 per cent of the state's revenue.
In the other 50 per cent, the government will get 50 per cent of the revenue back, the officials said.

Since the Centre has to give the state its share in the increased revenues, the allocation to the state in Centre's funds will increase.
"On an average, the state will get about Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 3,000 crore more income every year," the officials said.

However, one has to wait for the third quarter in December to understand the impact of the GST, the officials told Rao.
The Chief Minister said measures should be taken up to ensure that small businessmen are not adversely affected by the GST.
He directed the officials to conduct conferences to raise awareness among traders and general people on the GST, the release added.

Rao decided to hold a meeting with Commercial Tax Officers on the GST in the second week of July, the Chief Minister's office said.
Meanwhile, representatives of cloth merchants' associations met Rao and urged that he bring pressure on the Centre to exempt textiles from the GST, another release from the Chief Minister's office said.
He assured them that he would take up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it added.