Industry requests the government to waive GST penalties

Business people in Ludhiana, Punjab, have shown resentment towards the increased raw material prices because of the imposition of higher GST rates. The Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU) has approached the Finance Ministry at the Central Government through a representation letter. 

The President of the Chamber, Upkar Singh Anuja, has asked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to remove the financial penalties imposed on businesspeople under GST. The President further expressed that Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSME) are going through a rough phase. The operating cost of a business has significantly gone up because of the price hikes on raw materials and labour.

He stated that there had been a delay of 90 to 180 days in payment collections from customers. Hence, they require the government’s support in removing the GST penalties and late fees. Although it will not be significant financial support, it can act as a temporary relief.

The general secretary of the CICU, Pankaj Sharma, said that since the inception of GST, many penalties and late fees had been charged to the dealers for delays in return filing and non-payment of GST dues. For delayed payments beyond the due dates, Rs.50 per day used to be charged until the payment was done, which put an additional financial burden. He opined that the businesses genuinely need to discontinue these GST penalties.

The public secretary of the CICU, J S Bhogal, said that they had requested retrospective discontinuation of levying GST penalties or late fees from 2017. The request also included reversing the cases where there was a levy of GST late fee from 2017. 

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