Here’s how GST will help international travellers gain and exporters lose

The Modi govt was keen on easing off the plethora of state and central government taxes with a single levy and thus introduce Goods and Service Tax (GST) for simplifying business process. Now this will have a positive effect on international travellers buying goods in India. They would now be able to claim tax refunds.

Among the proposals of the panels set up by the empowered committee of state finance ministers, which submitted their reports on the business process for GST, this is a prominent one. The three reports dealing with refunds, registration and payment processes have been put up for stakeholder consultations, clearly indicating the government's intent to go full throttle with preparations for a rollout of the tax from 2016.

However, exporters will lose access to duty-free imported inputs and will have to make upfront payment of GST that will be refunded later. Payment of the new tax could be made by debit or credit cards.

Anyone engaged in the supply of goods and services would be required to be registered through a common portal set up by the Goods and Services Tax Network, a company set up to provide IT infrastructure and services to the Central and state governments, taxpayers and other stakeholders for implementation of GST. At present, taxpayers are separately registered with state or central tax administrations or both, based on their business activity.