GST is not just a tax reform, it is a whole new way of doing business. For example, right now industry faces some bottlenecks around the country, at check posts, octroi-payments and therefore the amount of time that the trucks have to wait & hence there lack of easy movement of goods from one state to the other.

This increases the transaction cost hugely besides impacting efficiency adversely. All this will stop with GST.  GST will create one unified national market and hence make supply chain and Indian retail sector more efficient.

Another important point is that GST will accelerate the process of formalization of our economy. Demonetization gave a trigger to this process and with GST coming later this year (2017), this whole process of formalization of economy will get accelerated.

SME suppliers in the country now understand the huge positive impact that GST will create. Lot of our suppliers are small and medium enterprises and regional suppliers and we’re working with them to educate & support in this process.

On demand side, GST will positively impact the informal sector and will help unleash new entrepreneurial energy. Small retailers & kiranas will be able to scale up their businesses significantly. I am also confident that government will consider making retail as an industry to give further boost to the informal/unorganized trade.

Our teams are working very hard and progressing well to be ready in time. As soon as the rates are announced, we would be 100 per cent ready. In addition, for us it is also important to help our supplier partners in the whole process.

We’re very focused & committed to the country and have been building a robust pipeline for new Cash & Carry stores in India. As mentioned earlier, we are planning to add another 50 stores in next couple of year to our existing store count of 21.

(Opinion piece by Krish Iyer – Walmart India President & CEO)

Source: ET Retail.com