GST may raise gains by 5% in 3 years: Indian retailers

25 Aug '17

2 min read

The goods and services tax (GST) regime may increase overall benefits of retailers by up to 5 per cent over the next three years due to gains derived from supply chain efficiency, better capability for sales growth and ease in shipping items without the cascading impact of tax, Retailers Association of India (RAI) CEO Kumar Rajagopalan has said.

Convenience in shipping will ensure availability of items to customers and retailers may not need to keep stocks in various places, which will reduce wastage, Rajagopalan told the RAI conference on ‘Retail in the age of one nation, one tax’ in Mumbai recently.

Representatives of various retail companies discussed the pros and cons of the GST regime at the conference. Some retailers feel the transition period of six months to offload stocks may not be enough for a few sectors like jewellery and furniture.

Hailing the GST regime for not creating any disturbance in the Indian retailing business community, S Kannan, chief financial officer of Arvind Lifestyle Brands, said compliance regarding filing of returns and documentation was, however, not up to the mark.

Retailers can take advantage of input credits with the GST tax rate that takes into account all benefits and up to 25 per cent increase in logistics and delivery lead time has also been observed, Kannan said.

Future Retail executive director Dinesh Maheshwari pointed out the lack of clarity on passing on benefits from input tax credit that was unclear at the stock keeping unit (SKU) level.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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