Goa industry body welcomes GST reforms; tourism stakeholders say it's 'prima facie good'

Panaji, Sep 4 (PTI) The top industry body in Goa on Thursday welcomed the new GST framework, saying the reforms were a "big step" towards ease of doing business and would boost self-reliance.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Wednesday approved a two-tier rate structure of 5 and 18 per cent, which will be implemented from September 22.

Talking to reporters, Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Director General Sanjay Amonkar said the industry body welcomes the GST reforms introduced across the board.

He said that the chamber has been continuously writing to the central government for rationalisation of taxes by putting these two slabs of five per cent and twelve per cent.

"This is a big step towards ease of doing business," he said.

The reforms will also result in ease of living as slabs are reduced in major consumption areas for general public. They will also significantly help farmers as tax slabs for the agriculture sector have also been reduced.

The GCCI said the new GST system will increase self reliance and help in mitigating the tariffs imposed by the USA.

The tourism industry offered a mixed reaction to the decision of reducing the GST on hotel tariff to five per cent.

President of Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, Jack Sukhija, said these reforms are "prime facie good".

"The rate has been reduced from 12 per cent to 5 per cent. However this has been offset to a large extent as the benefit of ITC (input tax credit) has been reduced," he said, adding that further clarification was required.

"Prima facie, we have been given to understand that restaurants in all hotels are required to collect GST at 5 per cent without ITC. If so, this will significantly benefit large-scale hotels that are presently required to collect GST at 18 per cent with full input," he added. PTI RPS NP