[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The D-Day for the rollout of GST came on July 1 and passed off by and large smoothly at least as far as the Micro and Small Scale Entrepreneurs in Peenya Industrial Area are concerned.
Expressing his satisfaction at the developments, Sri R. Krishnamurthy, President, PIA admitted there were some quite
serious apprehensions about the transition. “We got a lot of phone calls from our Members and micro entrepreneurs in Peenya and there was obviously a lot of curiosity laced with concern among them,” Sri Krishnamurthy said. “We counselled them on the various queries raised and directed them to the readily available resources and channels of information opened by the government, both by the Centre as well as the State Government.” One of the main reasons why there was not much of a hassle among Micro and Small Entrepreneurs was that the State Government was already well prepared in advance for the rollout. “Karnataka was the number one State in terms of GST preparedness in the entire country,” Krishnamurthy observed. “Credit for this should go to the proactive initiative and the lead taken by the Commercial Taxes Department and piloted by Sri Ritwik Pandey, Commissioner, CTD. It is also a matter of pride for us that we at the PIA along with other industry bodies have gone the extra mile to spread awareness among the industry fraternity. This has also been acknowledged by the State Government at the highest level and by no less than our Hon’ble Chief Minister Sri Siddaramaiah. Incidentally, nearly half a dozen programmes on GST were organized by us in the weeks preceding the GST rollout. All this has gone to ensure that Peenya entrepreneurs have not faced any major problem because of the teething troubles that are a part of any transition to a new tax regime.”
Echoing the views of PIA, industry bodies such as CII Karnataka and FKCCI said there have been no major complaints from small and medium enterprises. One of the reasons could be that Karnataka has trained officers in the system and conducted outreach programmes from about 6-7 months ago in Peenya Industrial Area and has engaged with industry bodies like PIA to keep them updated about the law. According to Sri Aravind Vivekanandan, Assistant Commissioner of Central Taxes, 90% of industries in the State are on the GST network.
Right from enrolment and migration to GST by Dealers, Karnataka has been rated No. 1 in the country. Only a small percentage is yet to enrol and that is mainly because of certain technical processes in the portal. All dealers are clear about their registration because of the programmes conducted on GST Awareness by PIA and other industry bodies in coordination with the Commercial Tax Department and other trade bodies.
According to a quick survey by PIA, registered auto dealers and small manufacturers in Peenya have not reported any instances of disruption and many of them in fact are happy. There are no issues in organized industry. However the unorganized sector is facing problems as they are still not ready with their IT systems.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
