HYDERABAD: Telangana has made good progress in implementing the Goods and Services Tax and succeeded in bringing about 90 per cent VAT accounts under the GST jurisdiction in just two weeks since its introduction on July 1. Of the total number of 2.16 lakh traders under VAT in the state, 1.92 were integrated under GST by July 15 and allotted numbers.
Telangana has thus become one of the few states which have registered such a result within 15 days. Central government officials have appreciated this achievement of Telangana while several states are caught in confusion over migration to GST and there were even agitations against it. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, at a high-level meeting held on July 3, said that if the state got 50 per cent of the GST, there won’t be much loss to the state’s exchequer. He asked officials to clear any apprehensions and doubts in the minds of people about GST.
Taling the cue, excise, and commercial taxes department officials, guided by principal secretary Somesh Kumar, swung into action and followed a multi-pronged strategy. Officials met traders in 91 circles and conducted 51 awareness meetings between July 5 and 7. Apart from Somesh Kumar, additional principal secretary to CM Shanti Kumari has taken the responsibility of monitoring the programme, according to a press release from the chief minister’s office here on Tuesday.