Keynote address by Dr.

Anil Kumar Jain (General Secretary, BJP) on the

completion of 1year of GST implementation
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Honourable Chief Guest, dignitaries on dais, invited guests, The Law Makers-Government of
India, The Taxpaying Public, the dealers, and the professionals managing the GST (The Tax
Professionals, Tax advocates and the CAs), my dear friends, Ladies & gentlemen …

GST, the biggest & the historic Tax reform after independence, is all set to celebrate its first
birthday on 01st July, 2018. It is overwhelming to see you all spare your valuable time to
attend this auspicious occasion. I extend my heartfelt welcome and express my sincere
gratitude to all of you for your august presence today.

Today, on this grand occasion of ‘GST Day Celebration’, I feel immensely proud & privileged to
highlight some of the key achievements of GST with in the last 1year as compared to the
existing Tax structure.

In the process of nation building, GST has led us to a pathbreaking juncture in last 1 year and
opens up a plethora of opportunities imploring us to aspire for new dreams. Today, our intent
is to analyse and review the critical journey of the implementation of GST over the last year as
well as explore the opportunities and the anticipated challenges that lay ahead.

The Goods and Service Tax (GST) was probably the biggest and most important economic
reform ushered in by the Modi government. While passing a judgment of its success in the
first year may be a bit bold considering that the comprehensive impact is normally likely to be
felt after at least 3 years as the system adjusts to the new rules of the game, upfront it can be
said that there are more positives to highlight, even while the work is in progress.

Prior to GST, in the existing taxation system, there was confusion in everybody's mind. The
foreign investors used to be confused about different systems in different states. Today we are
moving ahead to get rid of that situation. Arun Ji had vividly explained during GST Launch that
once GST is in place, all sorts of taxes like sales tax, VAT etc. will cease to exist. Long wait by
vehicles at toll plazas have been ended. Now we are free from of all those troubles as the
entire country will have a similar tax structure. Sometimes certain items, especially the
perishable ones that were supposed to reach their destination in time, were delayed because
of the time taken for processing; and it resulted in losses at both ends. Today we are getting
rid of all that. The country is moving a step forward towards 2nd year of modern taxation
system-GST. This is a system that is simpler, more transparent. It will help us curbing black
money and corruption and reward honesty. It will generate interest and enthusiasm to do
business honestly. It has been brought in a new culture of governance. We have all lived tax
terrorism and inspector raj. Today, due to the transparency of GST, due to its 1yr of proven
trial, grey areas are ending.
GST has an inherent strength of eliminating the possibility of ordinary businessmen being
harassed by the officers.

Notable Achievements of GST after one year of operation:

 To begin with, India’s GST structure has five tax slabs of 0, 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%
which to an extent seems to vitiate the concept but the fact that there are single taxes
in the form of the CGST or SGST or IGST makes it easier.
 GST Council has developed such systems wherein the underprivileged gets all the
promised facilities.

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 The people connected with GST have gone beyond politics and unanimously
contributed to ensure welfare of the poor class.

 All states are slated to gain immensely as they shall now get equal opportunities of
development.
 State and Centre playing equal role in the operations of GST. The Central Service
officers are deputed all over the states and they align the state with the vision of the
Centre.
 GST is the first of its kind system in the country when both Centre and State are putting
consolidated efforts in the same direction. This is an example of - 'Ek Bharat Sreshtha
Bharat'. We shall be proud of this wonderful system for generations to come as GST is a
landmark achievement which is bound to take the nation towards exponential growth.
 The GST Council has lowered rates twice which is a positive sign because no system
can get things right at first shot and fine tuning is required along the way to ensure
that tax rates are aligned.
 GST collection in April surpassed Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 1, 03,458 crore, which is a
landmark achievement and a confirmation of increased economic activity. The total
gross GST revenue collected in the month of April stood at Rs 1,03,458 crore,
consisting of Central GST (CGST) worth Rs 18,652 crore, State GST (SGST) of Rs 25,704
crore, Integrated GST (IGST) of Rs 50,548 crore (including 21,246 crores collected on
imports) and cess of Rs 8554 crore (including Rs 702 crore collected on imports). On
behalf of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), I would like to congratulate all Taxpayers,
Hon’ble Members of the GST Council, State and Central Government tax administration
for this achievement.
 FY 2019 will be important as it is the first full year of GST and the revenue garnered
and distributed between the centre and states will tell us more about how it has been
affected. While states have not always received their share on time from the centre, by
the end of the year things have been evened out in a rather smooth manner.
 On inflation, so far there is little evidence to suggest that there has been an upward
tendency as food has been kept out of GST, which is a large part of the CPI basket.
While services have become more expensive, the impact on inflation at the aggregate
level remains muted. Quite clearly it is only the non-GST basket i.e. fuel which will need
careful monitoring.
 On GDP growth, though the reasoning has always been weak, it would be too early to
draw a link as such a process can only take place over a period of time. In fact, there
are some scattered instances of SMEs being affected negatively by GST leading to
financial stress as well as sales being affected by this tax system. Therefore, if at all
there is a link, it would be negative in FY18 which can become neutral over time.
 The one major achievement here would be the integration of the unorganised sector
which is work in progress. But this has been a giant step whereby all producers enter
the system in order to take the tax credit involved. This would mean that after the
system adjusts, almost all the economic activity in the country would be in the formal
chain as no one will deal with anyone who is not GST compliant. This has started
happening and though there are pain points for the smaller players, it can be hoped
that this would be temporary.
 In general it can be said that the GST has been implemented quite smoothly and with a
proactive stance taken by the government, the creases are being evened out. This is
definitely the most important economic reform introduced in these 4 years of BJP Govt.
(probably on par with the IBC) and given the scale and scepticism which preceded its
implementation, the outcome has been more than satisfactory in the first year of its

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 running and it is quite evident that this is going to be proved as one of the most
successful tax reform structure of Indian democracy in future.

Personally, I believe that this process of GST is not restricted to the scope of economy only. It
stands today as a testimony to the concept of Co-operative Federalism in Indian Democracy.

This path that we have tread upon, the direction that we have selected, the new tax
system(GST) that we have developed has not seen the light of the day because of just one
team, or one government. This is a shared heritage. The combined efforts of all 1.32 billion
Indians led us to this accomplishment.

GST is in the initial phase of its journey & is like a new born baby, having many teething
issues. The Govt. has managed these issues by introducing several solutions and Now its
emphasis will be on simplification of return form.

Moreover, in 2022, India will celebrate the Diamond Jubilee year of achieving Freedom. We
have embarked upon a journey to create a New India. The New India which is the dream of
our 1.32 billion Indians! Therefore, Ladies and Gentlemen, GST shall play a key role in helping
us build the India of our dreams.

Therefore, I urge all the 1.32 billion Indian citizens most particularly to all the stake holders of
GST, in terms of their patience & their utmost support to Govt. so that GST would actually
become “GOOD & SIMPLE” Tax, which is the vision of our honourable prime minister. It is
certain that the future of GST will be very bright and will definitely facilitate the inclusive as
well as exponential growth of our nation.

Jai Hind…Vande Mataram

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