'GST to bring in fresh capital, will benefit Goa in long run'

Panaji, Aug 8: Introduction of goods and services tax (GST) will help attract new investments in coastal state of Goa, the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) today said.

"With introduction of GST, exemptions regime will come to an end. This will attract new investments to Goa in the manufacturing sector on account of its better infrastructure. This will also benefit Goa in the long run," said GCCI Chairman Narayan Bandekar.

Bandekar said the passage of the Bill has paved the way for the initiation of next steps to ensure implementation of the landmark indirect tax legislation.

"However, this is only the initial step -- next at least 50 per cent of the states will have to ratify it before receiving assent of the President," he added. "Thereafter, the GST Council will have to be constituted.

Meanwhile, the Empowered Committee would need to develop consensus on complex matters such as standard tax rates, exemptions, threshold limits, dual administration and others." According to GCCI, GST is "a game-changing tax reform" which is expected to end the complex and cumbersome regime of multiple taxes.

"As far as Goa is concerned, I think initially, introduction of GST may result in slightly lower revenues for the state, but over a period, it will stand to gain from introduction of GST," Bandekar noted.

He reasoned that since Goa is a fairly a large consuming state, this will be beneficial. "Goa's economy is dependent on tourism and is having a number of businesses like hotels and restaurants which sell goods and provide services as a package," GCCI said.

PTI