A four-day workshop on ‘Goods and Services Tax (GST)’ and ‘Government Fiscal Management’ was kick-started at the Madhusudan Das Regional Academy of Financial Management here on Wednesday.
Inaugurating the workshop, Finance Minister Pradip Kumar Amat said, “The GST is the biggest indirect tax reform since 1947 and it has the potential to lead to economic integration of India.” The main function of the GST is to transform India into a uniform market by breaking the current fiscal barriers among the States and it would facilitate a uniform tax levied on goods and services across the country, he added.
Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan gave the introduction address of GST dubbing the move as a very significant step in the field of indirect tax reforms in India. He said by amalgamating a large number of Central and State taxes into a single tax, it would mitigate cascading or double taxation in a major way and pave the way for a common national market.
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy Professor Dr Sachidananda Mukherji gave a talk on the topic “Why should we change from VAT to GST” and “Business Process Proposed in GST” in the inaugural day.
Noted professors from the institute including Dr Kabita Rao, Dr Tapas Kumar Sen and Dr PR Jena are scheduled to deliver their talks in the workshop.
Academy Director PK Behera gave welcome address.