Trading begins on dull note

Vijayawada: Trading activity began on a dull note in Vijayawada, the commercial capital of the state, on Saturday after rolling out the GST by the Union government against the wishes of trading community and the common man.

Highlights:

• Many trade associations oppose GST
• Government finally goes ahead with GST
• After note ban, traders to suffer again due to GST
• Business, largest employment provider in the city

Home appliances showrooms, gold shops, furniture shops, footwear showrooms, textile retail shops, shopping malls wore a deserted look in the city on Saturday after doing the brisk business for the last 10 days due to discounts offered byvarious big companies and showrooms, shopping malls in the city.

After witnessing hectic trading activity, the business came to a standstill in the city. Most showrooms have stopped discount offers and selling the products at normal price on Saturday.

Most big showrooms and shopping malls in the city are not in a hurry to implement the GST from July 1 because it will take some more days to install new software for billing.

Earlier, the shopping malls used to give VAT based bills. Now, it should be changed to GST based bills.One of the biggest shopping malls located at Governorpet has not installed new software on Saturday and issuing the old bills. When asked, the staff said it will take at least three days to change the software and generate new bills.

Many trade and chamber associations have vehemently opposed the GST.Associations like Andhra Pradesh Textile Federation, Vijayawada Chamber Commerce, Furniture Dealers Association, Footwear traders Association, Vijayawada Hoteliers Associations and other associations strongly opposed the implementation of GST.

These associations believe that the prices of many consumer products will shoot up with the implementation of GST and it will hit their business activity and turnover.

Business is the largest employment provider in Vijayawada for many decades and the city is known as commercial capital of the state. Vijayawada is famous for wholesale pharmaceutical business, furniture business, electrical goods, home appliances, plastic goods, stationery, toys, automobile spares etc.

Now, the traders are concerned that the GST will leads to rise of prices and it will ultimately affect the trade and revenue. Hoteliers, too, are unhappy with the GST. Andhra Pradesh Hotels Association president M Srinivasa Babu expressed concern that the hotels would suffer a lot with the GST.

He said the hotels are recovering from the losses, which suffered after the note ban and now again plunge into crisis if the tax is very high.On the other hand, the Union government is releasing full page advertisements in favour of GST and many government officials working in both the State and Central government departments are participating in many awareness programmes and been trying to create awareness on the GST and trying to convince people it is people’s friendly and tax burden will come down on people due to one country one tax system.

Federation of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI), Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Rice Millers Association and other commerce and chambers are conducting meetings and trying to create awareness among the traders and entrepreneurs on GST.

Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) Vijayawada chapter ex-officio and former chairman of South India ICAI E Phalguna Kumar said GST is very useful to the country and it will reduce the cascading taxes (tax on tax).

Speaking to The Hans India, he said traders need not panic about the GST and asserted that 3,500 chartered accountants working in the state would help and guide the traders about the GST.He said chartered accountants are attending various awareness meeting conducted in the state on GST and explaining the rules and regulations.

By Md Ameen