GST and its impact on auto buyers in India

“The advent of the GST regime has the business community frantically looking for reliable solutions to handle the new rules in an appropriate and effortless manner”.

‘Businesses trading with India, principally those with a presence in the country will need to ensure that they act now to ascertain their obligations and consider the practical measures on their business for these changes.

Ever since the first conversations around the introduction of GST started in India, organizations started providing offerings for the goal of GST compliance and filing.

Congress said the nationalist government was “insulting the very memory of India’s freedom struggle and the sacrifices associated with it”.

The state BJP leadership has made a decision to engage members of their traders cell and other frontal organizations to raise awareness-cum-training programme on Goods and Services Tax (GST) among small and medium traders of the state.

The Constitutional Guarantee that the Centre will reimburse transitional losses did not fully address the states’ insecurities. For the end consumer, it could mean more transparent pricing, elimination of double taxation (remember that pesky VAT and Service Tax on your restaurant bill?) and a uniform tax regime.

He further pointed out that states like Kerala and Telangana had refrained from charging additional taxes and demanded that the Tamil Nadu Government do the same. This will simplify the administration of indirect taxes and plug leakages. Through this people will gain from the indirect benefits. While the GST Council had chose to levy the highest 28% GST on luxury and sin goods, the final fitment of taxes shows that 28% tax is being imposed on the most basic items of daily use. Additionally, the GST, being a nationwide tax, could lead to possibly higher inflation in the first few years of its introduction but would gradually increase the overall GDP. The medium-term impact of GST on macroeconomic indicators is expected to be extremely positive. For starters, a uniform goods and service tax will cut down bureaucracy and the existing layered tax structure. The NDA government has planned a grand ceremony at the stroke of midnight on Friday to usher in the landmark taxation reform.

Which are the items that could become costlier and which are those that could become cheaper?

Almost 50% of goods fall under the 18% tax rate, 14% of goods fall under 5% tax rate, 17% under 12% tax rate and 19% under 28% tax rate.