Govt keeping a close watch on price and supply of goods to ensure no disruptions post GST rollout

The government is closely monitoring price and supply of goods, particularly essential and daily-use commodities, to ensure there are no disruptions post GST rollout, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said today.

Clearing misgivings post implementation of the national sales tax, GST, he said small traders are not required to issue bills as they are covered under a composition scheme that requires them to pay a fixed tax.

Bigger businesses with a turnover of over Rs 75 lakh are required to issue bills but not necessarily a computer generated receipts, he said adding hand-written receipts with a proper invoice number that can be added and filed in returns will be good enough.

The government, he said, has allowed companies to use additional stickers for indicating revised price of a commodity for three months.

A revision in the rate of a pre-packaged commodity post implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has to be intimated through advertisement in at least two newspapers and thereafter additional stickers over and above the MRP can be used.

Adhia said toll, mandi charges and fee on vehicle entry into states are not subsumed in the GST and will continue to be charged by local bodies or state governments.

All other levies on entry of goods have been subsumed in the GST, thereby resulting in abolition of entry barriers in 22 states.

Stating that there have been no reports of any disruptions post GST implementation, he said a central monitoring committee, comprising of 15 top secretaries, will meet every Tuesday to take stock of the situation.

Additionally, 175 officers of joint secretary/additional secretary level have been given charge of 4-5 districts each to monitor the GST implementation, he said.

On the issue of registration for the GST, he said about two lakh new registrations have been done since the registration reopened last week. Of these, 39,000 have already been approved.