Hitches in GST roll-out unavoidable: Sitharaman

“It is aimed at completely rooting out corruption from the lowest level,” she said. Addressing industrialists and representatives from leading trade and industrial bodies at a GST implementation conference organised by the BJP here on Thursday, she said that as of now there are no plans to reduce the taxes imposed on any sector. 

“GST is not unilaterally fixed by the Prime Minister. It is fixed after discussing with Finance Ministers of all the States and representatives of the industry,” she added. She admitted that the use of technology for implementing GST is also unavoidable as it involves buying a computer and usage of internet and engaging a person behind it. 

She claimed small scale industries taking up job orders will not be affected. Pointing out that there is no buying or selling involved in job orders, she said that value addition is taking place in the process whereas they don’t have to pay tax separately. She said this will not affect those job orders as the consumers will bear it. 

Sitharaman also expressed confidence that GST will reduce close to half the time spent on transportation in the form of waiting at the check posts in the inter State boundaries to pay tax. She said it will reduce wastage of fruits and vegetables. 

Later while talking to reporters, she said that industry representatives have submitted suggestions pertaining to GST and request to reduce the percentage of tax.