BENGALURU: It has taken Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey, one trip a week to Delhi for the last three years and it is still not over. As Karnataka’s Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Pandey’s involvement in the drafting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) does not end with the launch and his weekly trips to Delhi will continue for some more time. “In fact, if it stops after another four months, we can consider it a big success and offer thanks at a temple,” laughs the IAS officer, who had a tough time explaining to his kids, why he had to be in Delhi every week for the last three years.
Early on, Pandey was involved in drafting the rules from registration to enforcement and later on moved to putting up rules on public domain and working on feedback. “Even though the Rajya Sabha had not approved of the Bill at one point, we were working without a break and we were always short of time. By maintaining the pace, we felt we were ahead of the trade and industry. Once the rules part had been settled, we were focused on fixing the rates. Getting a consensus by addressing everyone’s concerns and coming up with a solution, that was acceptable to everyone was the toughest part,” he recalls.
Though 95 percent of the rates were fixed by mid-May this year, changes kept happening till the last moment. “Representations kept coming and the rates kept changing. The last change happened as late as June 30. There are still some items to which the rates have not been fixed,” he explains.
As of now, he points out that people will take time to get used to the various sub-categories and GST rates. “Unlike the VAT (value added tax) system, where it would levy a tax of ‘stationery supplies,’ under GST there is a breakdown with different rates like for a rubber eraser, sharpener or ink. We are trying to educate people as much as we can through various industry associations. The other issue is the Harmonised System Nomenclature (HSN) code of which many traders are not aware off,” he adds. Karnataka was the first state to reach the highest rate of enrollment with over 90 per cent compliance. The state has about 96 per cent traders registered.