I would have liked the “India Economic Strategy to 2035” to focus more on how the introduction of the GST and the transport E-way system is creating all kinds of new business demands in India.
In particular, Indian businesses are now being driven towards massive business process improvements. Service providers in this plus tax plus logistics are in big demand.
The GST was cited as the biggest tax change in history. Associated with it is the E-way which is electronic documentation detailing the movement of goods exceeding Rs50,000 in value.
Goods out of the e-way bill’s ambit include perishable items such as meat, milk and milk products and fruits and vegetables. Other items that don’t need an e-way bill are gold and silver jewellery, cooking gas cylinders, raw silk, wool and handlooms.
The e-way bill is a key anti-tax evasion measure and is a crucial part of the GST architecture.
The transformation coming from these reforms is huge. The previous state border taxes led many companies to have production and warehousing where they otherwise would not make sense, so now the opportunity is for great efficiency.
Helping Indian business cope with the GST and E-way bills, and then achieve the business process transformation opportunity arising from them should be a big target for Australian consultants and providers.