CII’s President Sanjiv Bajaj on Tuesday pitched for the simplification of Goods and Services Tax structure, and suggested that electricity as well as fuel should be brought under the GST ambit as that will help make the industry more competitive.
He also suggested that the number of tax slabs under the GST should be brought down to three.
“Going forward, we believe that on GST further simplification, cutting some of the inconsistencies, there are sectors where there is inverted tax structure, bringing in items like electricity, fuel under GST will further help simplify, cut costs, make industry more competitive,” he said in an interview to PTI.
Further, the president of the industry body said there is justification for keeping sin and luxury goods in the highest slab.
“We believe there is (scope for) simplification to probably three slabs. Now that five years have gone and there is experience over there, is what makes sense and that is something that should be deliberated upon,” Bajaj, who is Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Finserv Limited, said.
Besides the exempted category, GST is levied at 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent. There are separate tax rates for gold and precious and semi-precious stones.
On rupee movement against the US dollar, Bajaj said strong forex reserves helped the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to intervene when required to at least check volatility.
