At a meeting held on Saturday, the GST Council gave its nod for the e-way bill format developed by the Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN), took note of countrywide agitation by textile workers and sent out a warning for those manufacturers who are not passing on benefits of input tax credit to consumers.
"I am happy to announce that everyone's patience have brought results. The council today unanimously decided to implement e-way bill across the country," said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after chairing the meeting at North Block. "The entire process will be technology driven, and the council was assured by the GSTN chairman Navin Kumar that there would be no need for any checkposts once it is in place from October 1," Jaitley added.
The meeting also dwelt on the anti-profiteering measures that are promulgated by the GST Act. "It was largely pointed out that a number of industries are not passing on the benefits of input tax credit. We want a market mechanism to compel them to pass on the benefit," Jaitley said.
Violations of anti-profiteering rules by traders would be met with consequences ranging from monetary fine amounting to one and half times the total profit made. Both the state and the Centre will have screening committees to investigate these violations and report in three months.
Meanwhile, a number of items in the agenda were not taken up in the meeting, and are likely to be taken up for discussion in the next GST Council meeting in Hyderabad, to be held on September 9.
Faced with nationwide protests from textile traders, rates for textile work were reduced to five percent from 18 per cent earlier. Textile hubs like Surat and Tirupur had faced shutdowns and seen traders taking to the streets in protest.
In another decision taken today, the council also slashed the rates of tax payable on contract work by state and central government from 18 per cent earlier, to 12 per cent.
