GST impact: Within days of the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the once clogged octroi posts have emptied and clear traffic can be seen where once nothing seemed to move. These check posts scrutinise material and location-based tax compliance, resulting in delays in delivery of goods and cause environmental pollution as trucks queue up for clearance. Clearly, impressed with this sea change on roads and empty check posts, Mahindra and Mahindra chief Anand Mahindra took to Twitter to say, “Octroi was a clot blocking our economy’s blood flow. So, GST is common sense. For so long, common sense was Uncommon.”
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry in a statement said that as many as 22 states have cleared their borders of all octroi check posts enabling for smooth flow of traffic between states. Delhi, West Bengal and Maharashtra have abolished check posts within three days of the implementation of the GST, while eight states, namely, including Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Assam are in the process of removing these check posts, according to the Finance Ministry. One big advantage of the GST, which was seen from the planning stages was that it has the potential to reduce the logistics cost by speeding up movement of goods across state borders and even within states and thereby make the country’s goods and services more competitive
The Goods and Services Tax is an all-encompassing, pan-India indirect tax system. The new tax regime has cut out the cascade of multiple taxes which increase the price of items. Other states which have removed the check posts are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.