Small Businesses’ Grievances On GST To Be Monitored Daily

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs will daily monitor the grievances of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises relating to Goods and Service Tax as a part of its efforts to resolve issues being faced by small businesses in the tax regime.

The move comes at a time when the government initiated a major support and outreach programme for MSMEs to ensure growth and expansion of the sector. The GST help desks have already been set up in 80 districts where a 100-day support and outreach programme for the MSMEs have been launched by the government on Nov. 2.

The CBIC decided to set up a Feedback and Action Room under the Directorate General of the GST to record and process all grievances raised by MSMEs, an official said.

The help desks will have nodal officers for trade facilitation who would guide the small businesses on their queries surrounding the GST. These nodal officers would report all the grievances on a real-time basis to the FAR, which would then provide the solution.

"The FAR would comprise officers from Delhi and NCR. They would compile a master record of all grievances at various stages of resolution, and send a summary report to the board on daily basis," an official told PTI.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Nov. 2 launched a slew of measures for the MSME sector, including faster sanction of loans and easier compliance with environmental rules. Also, GST-registered MSMEs will get a two percent subvention or subsidy on a new loan or incremental loan of up to Rs 1 crore.

The MSME sector constitutes a network of over 63 million units and employs 111 million people, contributing around 30 percent to the GDP. It accounts for about 45 percent of manufacturing output and around 40 percent to total exports.