Colombo, March 27 (newsin.asia): At the request of Government of Sri Lanka, the High Commission of India here organized an awareness workshop on the Indian Goods and Service Tax (GST) on March 23.
A three-member delegation from the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), Government of India, headed by Commissioner Upendra Gupta conducted the workshop. Sonali Wijeratne, Director General, Department of Commerce, Government of Sri Lanka and Mr. Arindam Bagchi, Deputy High Commissioner of India also participated.
Officials from various Ministries and Departments of Sri Lanka, representatives of the trade chambers, and members from the industry were present. The discussions highlighted the fact that Sri Lankan exporters will now have access to hitherto unexplored markets of various states(provinces) in India, thanks to uniform rates of taxation all over India under the new GST Act.
Launched in July 2017, GST is hailed as India’s biggest tax reform since independence. GST has resulted in the economic integration of India, by subsuming more than a dozen State and Central levies into one tax.
The GST has unified 29 states of India into a common national market for the first time. [One nation, One tax]. GST has also substantially increased ease of doing business in India. It has mitigated the cascading effect of taxation as well as ensuring transparency, certainty and simplicity.
The new GST system will bring down the cost of imports and exports for Sri Lanka to and from India. Traders based in Sri Lanka will not have to bear the cost of any indirect tax except the basic customs duty and a Social Welfare Surcharge, as applicable. Traders in India can now claim GST paid on imported goods as tax credit from Government of India.
(The featured image at the top shows Indian and Sri Lanka officials at the workshop on the Goods and Services Tax in Colombo)
