"As we are moving towards the GST regime, it's necessary to be well versed with the GST law," Drabu said while speaking during a series of pre-budget consultations with the representatives of various business and trade organisations and other stakeholders here today.
The Finance Minister said, "CCI should attend training programme on GST being provided by the government to have deep understanding of it."
The Ministerclearly hintedthat J&K is moving towards GST regime, which had become a controversy in view of special status of J&K, which had its own tax laws.
The Finance Minister asked for the recommendations on Price Band to further help them during implementation of GST regime.
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He also asked them to register for training programmes on GST Law to get familiar with the things related to it.
Drabu also assured them that he will look into the issue of negative list of units.
Drabu said the government would focus on consolidating the fiscal management initiatives outlined in the previous budget and setting off new reformative measures to ensure effective utilisation of the resources.
Drabu said the pre-budget interactions are vital for receiving inputs, suggestions and to know the expectations of the stakeholders from the budget.
He further said he expects that the inputs provided by the stakeholders would help in Budget formulation and improving the policy management of financial system.
During the meeting, various suggestions and inputs were received from representatives of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) Jammu, Transporters Association Jammu, Federation of Industries Jammu, Hoteliers Association Jammu, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Institute of Public Opinion, Intellectuals, Academicians, Tax Bar Association, Traders Federation, Agriculturalists, Fruit Growers Association Jammu, Poultry Farmers and Tourism Federation Jammu.
They also asked for exemption of Service Tax on games zone.
CCI asked for the extending the amnesty on commercial
power as was done for the domestic consumers.
They also requested for no further enhancement in Toll taxes.
Another issue raised by CCI was granting freehold rights for industrial units with certain conditions.
CCI president also asked for having purchase preference rather than price preference in order to help local manufacturers.
The Transporters Association also presented various demands before the Minister and demanded that the there should be a smooth movement of goods carrier at Lakhanpur and there should be the distinction between dealers and transporters in case of penalty on goods.
Drabu said the department would work on the mechanism to provide ease to the transporters in paying the penalty at Lakhanpur.
Federation of Industries Jammu while presenting their demands said that some incentives should be provided to the industries to recover their losses due to the turmoil in valley which adversely have affected their production.
They asked for fiscal incentives to industrial sector and extension of other incentives under GST regime.
Federation also requested for removal of items from the negative lists for industrial sector for VAT remission and exemption of additional toll tax, amnesty on closed units power bills, one time amnesty to exempt Industrial sector from penal interest for the non submission of C Forms for inter-state sale.
The Federation of Industries demanded for imposition of toll tax on import of Wheat Bran from outside the state in order to save local Small Scale Industrial Units engaged in manufacture of wheat bran from incurring huge losses.
The Hotelier Association Jammu while presenting their demands said the hotels and restaurants under tourism have been declared as an industry and should be allowed to avail various benefits at par with Industrial sector.
They also asked for soft loans to tourism industry for renovation and upgradation of hotels.
They requested for a separate single window clearance agency for MSME, functioning of Lakhanpur toll post round the clock with introduction of POS machines to avoid payment in cash, opening of hospitals and schools in industrial belts of the state, cluster approach with specific master plan for MSMEs.
CII also proposed launch of Chief Minister Start-Up Scheme to provide single window support to potential entrepreneurs, relaxation in various State-specific taxes for the start-ups.
The Minister urged them to initiate a research cum database development project with the involvement of financial and social institutions and the Universities to help the government for extending the scope and ambit of the economic survey.