Business
CII urges government to roll out Goods and Services Tax
New Delhi, Feb 8
The Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII) Sunday urged the government to speedily implement the
Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill tabled in the Lok Sabha, allowing
industry participation in the discussions on the proposed indirect tax
regime.
"CII hopes that GST would be implemented at the earliest
keeping in mind that it should subsume all taxes, be applicable to all
products and services, and involve a reasonable Revenue Neutral Rate
(RNR)," the chamber said in a statement.
"CII believes that
industry should be allowed to participate in the Task Force on RNR and
other significant issues such as Integrated GST, Place of Supply Rules
and draft GST legislation," it added.
The chamber further said
the government should avoid raising excise duties in the upcoming union
budget for the success of the Make in India programme.
"While we
understand the imperative to garner fiscal resources, CII feels that
demand is still fragile. Moreover, the manufacturing sector continues to
be vulnerable," said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, CII.
"Under these circumstances, it would be prudent to allow excise duties to remain at current 12 percent," he added.
"On
central sales tax, CII has requested for reduction in rate from 2
percent to 1 percent in view of delay in implementation of GST," it
added.
With last month's rate cut by the Reserve Bank, industry
is looking at the budget session of parliament for progress on the
proposed GST Bill that would absorb most central, state and local levies
by April 2016.