Noted tax expert Rajiv Gupta has said that the financial services sector professionals were waiting for a couple of things in Goods and Services Tax (GST) to be clarified by Government, so that the industry could expand its reach.
In a workshop on the topic of GST and Its Impact on Financial Service Industry organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with Insurance Mall on Saturday, Gupta said that the sector was among the brightest ones for future growth of country and few of GST related queries would only help agents grow the business.
Other than Gupta, who is a former JFS officer, Bhasin Hota and Company CA Shamim Akhter, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industries (Jharkhand wing) Assistant Secretary Farha Tabassum and Insurance Mall Director Puneet Bedi were also present in the workshop to answer queries of financial services sector professionals.
Stressing upon positive outcomes of GST, Gupta said that it was among the finest moves towards tax reforms in country. “By amalgamating a large number of Central and State taxes into a single tax and allowing set-off of prior-stage taxes, it would mitigate the ill effects of cascading and pave the way for a common national market. GST would also make our products competitive in the domestic and international markets. Studies show that this would instantly spur economic growth,” added Gupta.
Experts in workshop opined that service sectors were expected to have major impact of GST than the manufacturing or trading sector. It was also observed that among the services provided by banks and Non-Banking Financial Services (NBFC) sector, financial services such as fund based, fee-based and insurance services will see major shifts from the current scenario. Owing to the nature and volume of operations provided by banks and NBFC vis a vis lease transactions, hire purchase, related to actionable claims, fund and non-fund based services etc., GST compliance will be quite difficult to implement in these sectors.