The industrialists have been complaining since long about the complex tax structure in the country. To add to their problems, the much awaited Goods & Services Tax (GST) Bill failed to get passed in the Rajya Sabha in this winter session too. GST Bill is expected to bring some uniformity in the tax structure for the MSMEs.
Industry bodies have been saying that the GST bill can help MSMEs avoid complexities of taxation and probably small sector would be the biggest beneficiary of GST.
According to UP industrialists, “This is the time of high competition. Government should provide some subsidies to the industries in the fuel and give them relaxation from the complicated tax structure. The government doesn’t want to pass the excise benefits to them. The industry never gets the benefits of VAT, they point out. The cost of production for micro, small and medium enterprises is so high that they are disadvantaged in the global competition.
Elaborating about the issue faced by the industry due to ‘Inspector Raj’, the industrialists said, “In the Higher Levels, the departments are doing well, but when it comes to the ground reality, the industries still suffer due to inspector raj. “They often ask for bribe in order to allow the industry to run,” said an entrepreneur.