Stepping closer to the concept of ?one nation, one tax?, Rajya Sabha passed the Goods & Services Tax (GST) Bill. The constitutional amendment will enable both the Centre and the states to simultaneously levy the GST, which will include all indirect taxes currently levied, including excise duties and service tax. It will be levied on consumption rather than production. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley initiating the debate in the Rajya Sabha said, the shift to the GST regime will lead to a uniform, seamless market across the country. It will be a uniform rate, will check evasion, and boost growth rates.

Industry comments
?GST, India's uber tax reform, will cause some pain before it provides the expected gain. It is a big step in attaining a jump on 'ease of doing business'. More importantly, the unity in government over the passage of this landmark bill will be a great booster for FDI. GST will cause 'Great Sentiment Transformation'.

Pratap Padode,
Founder & Director, Smart Cities Council India

"We are extremely delighted that the long awaited GST Bill is passed in the Rajya Sabha. We are sure that this will improve our efficiency, reduce unnecessary administrative efforts, and could also increase profitability. I would like to congratulate and thank the government on behalf of our company and on behalf of our Association, Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association (ICEMA), for getting this bill passed."
Anand Sundaresan,
President, ICEMA,& Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India Ltd

"The passage of GST in Rajya Sabha is a landmark reform: A critical milestone towards Free Trade within India. It will also give a massive push to Make in India, especially MSMEs. The ease and cost of doing business will receive a fillip and the width of the tax base will be enhanced."

Vipin Sondhi,
Managing Director and CEO, JCB India Ltd

We welcome the passage of the much-awaited GST Bill. We believe the new law would be a game changer for doing business in India in the long run. We strongly believe that this is a shot in the arm for business as amalgamation of several taxes into one will reduce bureaucracy to a large extent and through cascading credit of taxes would eventually reduce the incidence of tax. We will wait for finer details about the law, rules and procedures, so that we can gear up and plan the roadmap of implementation. Overall, this will prove to be one of the greatest achievements for India for its leap towards the ranks of world?s large economies.

Rahul Dandavate
Managing Director, Liebherr India Pvt Ltd

?CASE Construction India takes the progress on GST with great optimism. For construction equipment, the large variance in taxation across states, ranging from 17.5 per cent to 32.5 per cent is quite large and causes several pricing disparities across the states. There would also be significant smoothening of the processes related to different documentation exchange, tax standardisation and reducing the incidences of tax evasion. We are of the firm belief that reforms such as uniform taxation would ease up the commercial environment creating a win-win situation for the customers, industry and the government.?

Abhijit Gupta,
Managing Director, CASE India

"GST is positive for manufacturing and localisation of mining and construction equipment. Localisation of high quality mining machines will also help Indian Government's ambition to increase coal production. It will also simplify our business processes and logistics. It is necessary that GST rate is fixed at a reasonable rate."

Shib Bhowmik,
Country Head & Managing Director, Joy Global

?It is a good news that GST Bill has been passed by the Rajya Sabha but before the Act gets implemented, and we start paying GST, there are a couple of serious steps to be taken by the government and the policymakers. We sincerely hope that all these steps happen and we see GST getting implemented on April 3, 2017. While we are happy that GST is moving towards implementation, we also feel that there has to be clarity in certain areas so that corporates can plan their future more strategically.?

VG Sakthikumar,
Managing Director, Schwing Stetter Sales & Services Pvt Ltd,
& Chairman - Mechanisation Committee, Builders Association of India

"The passage of the long awaited GST Bill in Rajya Sabha is a positive move. It is a step forward in the endeavour of 'ease of doing business' in India. This would also send the right message to foreign investors. It is anticipated that implementation of GST can add 1-2 per cent to the GDP of the country. This would be helpful considering that the manufacturing sector is somewhat laggard at present."

Rajesh Nath,
Managing Director, VDMA India

?Passage of the GST Bill is a huge step forward for the country?s economic growth and is expected to provide a significant boost to GDP. Once implemented, it would replace the complex tax structure currently prevailing in India, make it transparent and unify the country into one market. This will also improve ease of doing business and be beneficial in attracting larger FDI into the country. This is expected to be favourable for construction equipment market as it would reduce total tax incidence, and also allow free movement of machines throughout the country.?

Samir Bansal,
General Manager, India, Off-Highway Research

?Introduction of GST for construction equipment industry is all about uncluttering the existing tax regime and moving into single taxation. Taking detours to avoid tax and the attendant harassment while crossing state borders will be gone making business transactions smooth and easy. For our industry it has come in at just about the right time which will help growth. It is going to be a milestone reform.?

Rajinder Raina,
General Manager-Marketing, Escorts Construction Equipment Ltd

"GST Bill is set to revolutionise logistics with unified and simplified structure versus multiple taxes at various levels. It will lower the inventories and working capital; reduce documentation, improve asset utilisation, ensure higher turnaround time and efficiencies. We expect the industry to move away from pure vanilla warehousing needs to contract logistics.?

Prakash Tulsiani,
Executive Director & COO, Allcargo Logistics

?GST will be a game changer for the Indian economy and for all Indian corporates across the industries. It will step up the GDP growth rate by at least 2 per cent. It is a vital move towards 'ease of doing business' by making not only the rate of taxation lower but also uniform across the states in India. We are in logistics and shipping business which are secondary service industries and our fate and rate of growth are totally dependent on the state of economic affairs in the country. Thus, anything which is good for the economy is music to our ears. We congratulate the present government for this historic achievement.?

Daniel Chopra,
Executive Chairman, Elektrans Group

?We welcome the passage of the forward looking reform which will augur well in the long term for uniform economic progress across the country. In addition to simplifying the tax structure and administration, it will aid ?Make in India? becoming more efficient and accelerate movement between producing and consumption locations.?
Tata Motors