No question of prices going up: Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]PIA appeals to all Members and MSME Entrepreneurs not to heed any rumour and fall prey to them: R. Krishnamurthy, President

All concerns about an inflationary spike arising from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime are baseless and unfounded, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry (I/C), Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman declared at an interactive session organized by Samanvay, a social forum, in Bengaluru on June 25. On the contrary, the Minister affirmed that it would lower the tax burden on people.

“There’s a fear among people that prices of commodities will go up in the GST regime. But there’s no reason to be afraid. Goods and services are, in fact, going to get cheaper,” the Minister said.

Welcoming the clarification expressed by the Minister for Commerce & Industry, Sri R. Krishnamurthy, President, PIA said it has given much relief to the MSME entrepreneurs as there were many rumours floating around about hike in prices. “Many of our Members brought to our notice that they had been receiving various social media messages about an across the board hike in all prices, which had spread a sense of panic among the people. The clarification at the highest level, that is from no less than the Minister of Industry & Commerce has therefore come at the right time, and carries much more credibility. We have also appealed to our Members and the MSME entrepreneurs not to heed any rumour and fall prey to them,” he said.

Principal Commissioner for Central Excise Sri M. Vinod Kumar and Additional Director General of Central Excise Sri D.P. Nagendra Kumar too were a part of the interactive session.

Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said that the GST Council had adopted ‘revenue neutral principle’ as the thumb rule for deciding the new tax slabs – 0%, 5%m 12%, 18% and 28% -and subsequently classifying commodities under them. ”While classifying commodities under new slabs, care was taken to ensure the new prices would be lower than existing ones in the VAT regime. Hence, there’s no question of prices going up,” she added.

Affirming the central government’s preparedness for the GST rollout the Minister added, “Chartered accountants from across the country had been roped in to examine the GST processes. These are dry runs, and are being done between 3 and 5pm every day at District headquarters. While many industries have expressed concerns the GST Council had set up 18 technical sub-committees to look into them.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]