Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (PMD)

Mangaluru, Dec 15: The Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Mangaluru held a programme on GST awareness and its impact on the sevice sector, on Thursday, December 15.

This was the third of its kind by KCCI.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr M Subramanyam, commisioner of central excise and service tax, who was the chief guest of the programme, and G Giridhar Prabhu, chairman of Achal Group and former president of the KCCI, Mangaluru, the guest of honour.

Topics that were spoken on in the technical session ranged from meaning and scope of supply of goods and services, to time and valuation of supply of goods and services, places of supply of goods and services, and job work and transitional provisions. The lineup of sessions was led by a group of representatives from the Central Excise and Service Tax, Mangaluru.

The programme commenced with the ceremonial lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries, which comprised treasurer M Ganesh Bhat, president Jeevan Saldanha, secretary, Vathika Pai and the guest speakers, after which the speakers briefly outlined their perspectives on the tax, a complete gamechanger for some, and its impacts.

The chief guest Dr Subramanyam inaugurated the programme and spoke in support of the new tax regime. He said GST would help nullify the cascading burden of tax-on-tax. To Dr Subramanyam, "Taxes should be like, as Kautilya said, 'bees drawing nectar from the flower'. They don't harm the plant, likewise, the ruler also must collect taxes without causing harm." To ensure this, he said, the taxation system should begin with certain cannons - it should be convenient, certain and unambiguous. He also noted how there is a bifurcation of financial power, between the administrators of the system - centre and the state, on specific areas respectively.

Speaking on the competitiveness in exports in the international market, he said, "CTPAT compliant entities get priority for clearance of their consignment of goods into USA, just like the green channel for passangers at the airport, thus GST will only make the system more transparent and congenial for this type of arrangement, giving us an advantage in the international scenario."

About domestic inflation, he said, the incidence of tax would reduce on the supply side. Thus, a single indirect tax regime will reduce the tax burden and disincentivise tax evasion. And in a competitive economy, where the consumer is king, the prices of the commodities will be lower and beneficial to them.

Dr Subramanyam added that this system would only help remove economic distortion, as per economists. As the Prime Minister highlighted, it is a step towards economic transformation, transarency and better utilisation of money, manpower and machine. And as it is a destination-based service tax, less developed states would benefit from it. In conclusion, he quoted Stephen King on taxation - "The rope by which the great blocks of taxes are attached to any citizenry is simple loyalty... to the country." He thus urged everyone towards voluntary tax compliance.

The guest of honour, G Giridhar Prabhu, chairman of Achal Group, Mangaluru addressed the gathering and noted how services have grown faster than goods, because of our country's demography - the well educated youth, who have contributed to the sector globally. "India derives a net surplus in service exports. Services, in themselves cannot be seperated from the individual that provides them; thus, their value remains high. And in our economy, where service sector is interlinked with the other sectors, the tax on service sector will have implications for the other sectors too, where the increase of taxes in the service sector, will increase the cost on the entire system," he said.

He said, taxation must be seamless and urged that invoice be mandated by law.

He requested for a diploma in indirect taxes at a pre-university level, to have information about taxation for the benefit of the youth, as done in the University of Mumbai since 1965. He correlated taxes as the water that gets evaporated drop by drop, and then showers all over the land, just like Chanakya had once said. He suggested services in the SEZ areas be made international, and in conclusion asked citizens to exercise active citizenship by engaging in understanding the system, as taxation covers everyone in the country.

The programme started with a welcome note by president of KCCI Jeevan Saldanha. Vice-president Vathika Pai introduced the guests to the gathering. P B Abdul Hameed, honorary secretary of KCCI proposed the vote of thanks.

Later in the day, an interactive session was held with the team representing central excise and service tax deaprtment. This team comprised assistant comissioners, CE and ST, division 1 Mangaluru - Shreyas K M and Shankar S; and superintendents, adjucation, CE and ST, division 1, Mangaluru - G Purushotham and Unnikrishnan E.