Gst for Msme’s : Boon or Bane?

GST for MSME’s : Boon or Bane?

By Yogesh Bajoria

One of the primary growth drivers of the Indian economy – The Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector has over three million SMEs operating in the country contributing to almost half of the industrial output and a staggering 42 percent to India’s total exports. For a developing country like India and its demographic diversity, SMEs have emerged as the leading employment-generating sector and has provided balanced development across sectors. With the revolutionary changes in the taxation structure, it is really important for us to understand what the future holds for this sector.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill has come into effect from 1st July, 2017 aiming to simplify the taxation systems, remove cascading effect, increase the tax payer base and foster a shift towards tax compliance. So far, unorganised MSMEs have grown faster than organised peers because of lower cost structures stemming from tax avoidance. The transformations resulting from GST are many. The reduction in exemption limit to Rs. 20 Lakhs from Rs.1.5 Cr means thousands of unorganised MSMEs will soon be tax payers. The compulsory registration for passing on the input tax credit benefit will force MSMEs into tax compliance. On the other hand, a lower tax burden will reduce the cost of input thereby resulting in operational efficiencies. There will definitely be an ease in doing business as GST is a centralized process, but then again there is a requirement for multiple registrations which leaves a loophole for red tape. There would be certain benefits that would accrue this sector. It would give a scope to SMEs to be at par with multi-nationals and multi-state ventures with uniform taxation. The logistics and delivery of goods will become faster as the state border check posts and tolls have been removed under this new system. The distinction between goods and services and the ambiguity concerning the same will be eliminated. There will be a single and unified market for all the SMEs.