A week has gone by since the landmark Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime got rolled out, but not much has changed on ground for small and medium traders.
BloombergQuint visited the Dadar market in central Mumbai again, after a week's interval, and the problems shared by traders were similar to those one week back – unpreparedness, lack of clarity on the billing process and input tax credit claims, and supply shortage from some companies, distributors and wholesalers. On the whole, the small scale industry's supply chain is still struggling to understand and comply with GST.
“Our distributors are still closed and it may take another 10-15 days for them to start supplies,” said Chimanlal of Lazaree, a saree shop. Ravi Mulay of Panshikar Brothers, a well -known confectionery store in the area, also said that the billing process – where the invoices need to be uploaded digitally – is still not in place.
It will take us a month or two to get ready.Ravi Mulay, Panshikar Brothers
Distributors are facing problems in supplying goods to their retailers as some companies are still holding on to stock until they get completely GST compliant. Another problem faced by small traders has been with updating the Harmonized System of Nomenclature (HSN) codes for each and every item that is to be sold. As a result, supplies to retailers have been disrupted, and most of them are waiting to update their systems as and when the supply is back on track.
“There may be some shortage going forward,” said Bharat Medico's owner Vijay Chhajed.
On the other hand, a week down, sales have not picked up either. “The customers are as scared of GST as we are, and that has brought our sales down. Every time they buy something, they haggle over the prices and the increased tax rate,” said Hitesh Shah of Prabhat Hardware.
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