NEW DELHI: The Centre is working to bring changes in the GST Act so that companies can utilise data stored with GST Network to increase their business.
“We suggested that anything that is on GST as an invoice should automatically be gone to TReDS as well. Then it can be used on TReDS to finance receivables and so on. So, that was the recommendation of the committee, and I am very happy to tell you it was accepted by the government,” Jayant Sinha, Chairperson, Parliament Standing Committee on Finance, said on Thursday.
He was speaking at the Assocham e-summit on ‘Non-Banking Finance Companies & Infrastructure Financing: Transforming the Financial Lending Landscape’. He added that as the GSTN (GST Network) does not enable the usage of data within GSTN for any other purpose, the government has to change the GST Act through legislation.
“Public platforms such as UPI and Aadhaar are very important platforms. Even then, for us to leapfrog, we have to do more in terms of public platforms,” Sinha said.
However, he said, any change will need statutory backing through legislation. So, there is a need to change not only the central GST Act but all the state GSTN Acts to enable GSTN invoices to automatically get on to TReDS or other platforms, he added. TReDS is a platform that facilitates discounting of invoices for MSMEs from corporate buyers through multiple financiers.
He said GST is fast becoming the commercial backbone of this country, and the government is doing all the necessary changes that will be required to support the businesses.