Principal Chief Advisor to West Bengal Chief Minister, Amit Mitra, on Monday, called for a dedicated GST Council meeting to resolve issues faced by the MSME sector, sources have informed CNBC-TV18.
As per the information, Mitra has written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman saying the current regulations have put Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) "on the verge of deregistering back to their informal status."
Mitra has requested Sitharaman "to convene a GST Council meeting which exclusively focuses on these two big issues, rather than tinkering with nitty-gritty, to find holistic and sustainable solutions to control frauds and simplify regulations, keeping the MSMEs in mind."
"Current GST system requires a total rethink by Centre"
"Humongous fraud taking place in the country today and the deep suffering of the MSME in the current GST system requires a total rethink by the Govt. of India and the GST Council on the very structure and function of GST," Mitra said to the Sitharaman, who is also chairperson of the GST council.
Citing Finance Ministry's data tabled in Parliament, Mitra wrote, "Rs. 1.15 lakh crores of fraud have been detected from GST invoices between 2018-19 to 2022-23." He also added that out of 69,426 GST Identification Numbers that were verified during the last two months, 20,893 were found to be non-existent.
"Since the inception of GST, year after year we have been helplessly watching massive fraud taking place in this porous GST system."
As per Mitra, the reason behind rising frauds and complexities is due to the "complex web of GST". He said that to date, "770 notifications have been issued, 178 prescribed forms in GST, 191 circulars have been issued, 75 sections have been amended under CGST Act alone, 129 CGST Rules have been amended."
"The rates of more than 400 items of Goods and around 100 categories of Services have been changed to date," he added.
Mitra questioned: "How do you expect that an MSME company would be able to cope with this gargantuan regulatory structure!?"
First Published: Jul 31, 2023 10:18 PM IST
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