Expeditious refund of duties, deferment of filing of GST returns for six months and expansion of the ambit of the composition scheme were some of the issues which were raised by industry and exporters during the meeting here today.
Exporters want resolution of problems arising from implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) also said that power there should not be any tax burden on export sales and for imparting competitiveness, taxes may be refunded through duty drawback.
"The minister gave a sympathetic hearing to our concerns and assured all possible help. He has taken all our points positively".
Also Read
The FIEO also pressed for exemption from GST for merchant exporters, immediate start of the refund process with exporters facing liquidity issues and allowing export benefit scrips for payment of IGST and CGST.
The industry representatives also brought up compliance matters on which the finance minister invited suggestions to improve the GST implementation.
Traders, particularly SMEs, are facing issues in filing returns, which is increasing their compliance burden.
Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council Chairman Praveenshankar Pandya said the sector is faced with a huge problem as exports are declining.
They also demanded exemption from Integrated GST (IGST) on procurement of precious metals from nominated agencies for the purpose of manufacturing and export of jewellery.
Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) Council Member Satwinder Singh said concerns related to reverse charge mechanism and refund were raised in the meeting.
In a statement, CII has asked for special initiatives for promoting exports, including by addressing teething troubles for exporters under the GST regime.
"All import duties including IGST should be allowed to be debited under Advance Authorisation. Advance receipts for exports should be exempted from payment of IGST," it said.
"Therefore at least for six months filing of GST return should be deferred. Composition Scheme should be applicable for small service providers (turnover upto Rs 50 lakh)," it said.
Representatives from KPMG, CII, Ficci, Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, Laghu Udyog Bharati, GST service providers, ICSI, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Amazon were present.
In their meeting with finance ministry officials on September 19,
exporters asked the government to fast-track the refund process and avoid further deterioration in their liquidity situation.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content