The much awaited GST reform was implemented on 1st July 2017, it promised to make our tax system simpler. However, this simplicity was still out of reach for our minds and Pulkit Sir and Rishabh Sir came to our rescue with a precisely informative GST seminar.
On 8th July 2017, Atmiya Vidya Mandir’s auditorium got filled with enthusiastic students of class 11 & 12 who had gathered with keen curiosity to gain a thorough understanding of one of the biggest economic reforms of India, i.e. GST. The guest speakers of the seminar were CA Rishabh Sir, the co-founder of Swastik Education and CA Pulkit Sir, an All India topper in CA-Finals. The knowledgeable speakers were also eager to quench our thirst for knowledge with the best of their expertise. The seminar was jointly conducted by ICAI (The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India), Surat Branch of WICASA and Swastik Education.
Felicitation of the speakers marked the beginning of this informative seminar. The seminar was divided in three parts—
- Background of GST
- Impact of GST on Indian economy and
- Q & A round
The first part was presented by Pulkit Sir. He started with the details of pre-GST era. He highlighted the drawbacks of that regime, one of them being the cascading effect of taxes. The merits and demerits of the theme were not left out. The demerits of this reform are short-termed. The short-term growth of India will be hampered. Also it will take time for the small traders to get accustomed to the reform. However GST has a lot of long-term merits as there will be uniformity in taxation all across India and the government will be able to keep an eye on a larger part of India’s economic activities.
He cleared some ridiculously illogical myths and threw light on the real story. The unpleasant image of GST in eyes of people will be eliminated by knowing the fact that thirteen smaller and accurate returns will replace the three large and inefficient ones. The introduction of GST in India is also a step towards making India digital and transparent. It was wrongly assumed by unaware public that every business has to register itself on the GST portal. But the fact that only the businesses having a turnover of more than 20,00,000 INR have to get themselves registered wallops the myth. Another misunderstanding was that GST was to basically hike the prices but Pulkit Sir cleared the board and said that it was to reduce the prices for the needy and collect more from the affluent so as to reduce the gap between the two.
The second part was presented by Rishabh Sir. He displayed the picture of Indian economy in near future. India might see a fall in its GDP with GST’s impact in short-term. On the other hand, however, it has stored fortunes for the formerly called “golden sparrow”. If the kind, patient citizens work in tandem and partnership with the government, India can reach the heights of infinity in growth and development.
The presenters then opened up for a question round. The students were quite inquisitive and the presenters were more than happy to solve their doubts.
The two hour session shaped our understanding of GST and its impact on the economy of India. The students happily left the hall with their mind full of informative, qualitative and realistic thoughts on GST.
Submitted by: Aayush Sagar & Smit Lad (Class 11 Commerce)
