Budget 2013: Will there be a roadmap for GST in FM's speech?

The Finance Minister had earlier said,“Work is in progress to rollout the new indirect tax regime GST as soon as possible, which will help remove the cascading effect of taxation and boost economic growth.”

Following are some expectations penned by experts

ARKS Srinivas,Vanguard Business School/ VistaMind expects a further reduction of import and customs duties will encourage competition within. He also expect more rationalization of Income Tax and an early implementation of DTC (Direct Tax Code, and GST implementation within this year.

“We expect that the Budget to implement GST with required constitutional amendment so as to build a transparent and corruption-free tax administration,” says George Alexander Muthoot, Muthoot Finance.

Moreover, Prayasvin B Patel, Elecon Engineering says, the expectation from this Budget would be to set up a clear road map for the implementation of GST that would rationalize the complicated indirect taxes regime that businesses in India have to face.

Dipen Sha,Kotak Securities says, we expect stability in tax rates, though there may be some adjustments in the list of exemptions, deductions, etc, keeping in mind the eventual movement to GST and DTC.

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