Experts Believe That GST Based Bill Discounting Will Help MSMEs

Top economists and taxation experts of India has reached to a consensus that Goods and Service (GST) based bill discounting backed by government guarantee fund can provide immediate relief to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) struggling with credit issues.

In its endeavor to further improvise and set new direction for tax reforms, top experts at SKOCH India Economic Forum which was organised by  SKOCH Group (India’s topmost think-tank) on Friday discussed immediate measures required to counter slow down and create a complete portfolio of tax reforms in India.

Addressing the immediate measures required to take tax reforms to the next level, Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, SKOCH Group said, “I am glad that leading taxation experts at India Economic Forum has today reached a consensus that GST based bill discounting backed by government guarantee fund can provide immediate relief to MSMEs. Credit to MSME is a huge problem and the biggest roadblock in the success story of our promising MSME sector.''

''GST payer cannot be penalized for his/her customer not paying the taxes. GST chain is broken and we need quick reforms in this direction. I am hopeful that some will happen through GST council and some in the budget. Few steps such as moving DDT to shareholders, abolishing capital gains, rationalizing GST and creating GST refund wallet can be of great help in completing tax reforms,” he added.

Highlighting Tax abuse by MNC’s as key reason behind low tax GDP ratio, M Govinda Rao, Member, 14th Finance Commission said, “In most countries, GST has turned out to be a money machine, that hasn’t been the case here. There is a number of factors responsible for the low tax GDP ratio. One of them is tax abuse by MNC's. It is more worrisome due to the lack of transparency in their transactions and their access to data. It has transformed the conventional method of transactions"

The panel at SKOCH India Economic Forum also addressed some of the key issues such as immediate corrections needed in the GST rates and collection system, GSTN based bill discounting for better availability of credit, can digital MNCs be taxed more efficiently in India, OECD model an option, etc.

“We are a country that produces data, we need our share of profits. Data is being given in exchange for service”, said Dr Ravi Kant Gupta, Author and Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, HQ Administration, New Delhi.

M Govinda Rao, Former Member, 14th Finance Commission, Former Director, NIPFP, Arun Goyal, Former Secretary, Government of India, Ved Kumar Jain, Chairman, Ved Jain, and Associates, Anil Sharma, Founder, A Sharma and Co., Sharad Sharma, Co-Founder, iSpirt Foundation, Dr  Suranjali Tandon, Assistant Professor, NIPFP, Dr Ravi Kant Gupta, Author and Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, HQ Administration, New Delhi, Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, SKOCH Group participated in the discussions on completing tax reforms.