The Haryana government has announced abolition of market fee for small traders having an annual turnover of upto Rs five lakh.

The abolition of the fee was among a number sops announced by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar during a trader’s conference ‘Virat Vyapari Sammelan‘ .

He also announced the government’s decision to change the upper financial limit for VAT/CST refund and initiating an annual award for the traders who would pay maximum taxes.

Addressing the conference, Khattar said that the Traders Advisory Committees would be formed to redress the grievances of the traders at the district level.

He also said the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner would be competent to allow VAT/CST refund upto Rs 25 lakh, whereas Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioner or other officer in the headquarters would be competent to allow VAT/ CST refund over Rs 25 lakh.

The Chief Minister also said that the government had decided to fix the collector rate of any immovable property at par with the market rate in the state.

“This would be implemented from April 1, so as to ensure complete transparency in the system,” Khattar said.

The Chief Minister said that the government has in-principle agreed to provide insurance cover to Haryana traders so that they could be brought under the ambit of social security.

“The insurance cover facility to the traders would be provided in which traders would have to deposit some premium and rest amount would be shared by the government,” he said.

Khattar said that one lakh CCTV cameras would be installed during next year at public places in the state for security purposes.

The government had already installed about two lakh CCTV cameras in the state, he said, adding that the traders to should install such cameras inside and at the main gate of their shops.

“Apart from this, the traders should also completely adopt online mode of transactions,” he said.

Referring to the Goods and Service Tax (GST), which is likely to be rolled out from July 1, Khattar said traders having annual turnover over Rs 20 lakh would have to register themselves by March 31. More than 62 per cent traders have already been registered and hoped that remaining would be covered by March 31.

The traders would get rid of ‘inspector raj’ in real terms with the implementation of GST, which is the biggest tax reform, he added.

Khattar said, “that rates of electricity would be reduced ranging from 16 paisa to 60 paisa per unit from April 1”.

“This decision would also help the traders as the government is supplying 24 hours electricity where line losses are zero,” Khattar said.

He said that the state government had already constituted Traders Welfare Board to address the problems and issues of traders in the state.

Apart from the rolling of new Enterprises promotion policy, the government had signed MoU worth Rs seven lakh crore in Global Investors Summit held in Gurugram last year, the CM said.

Speaking on this occasion, Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu said that he would provide all kind of assistance for the welfare of traders.

“Despite a small state, Haryana is contributing over 3.5 per cent in the country’s GDP and the credit of the same goes to our traders and entrepreneurs,” Abhimanyu said.

Source: Business Standard