siliconindia | | December 20188IN MY OPINIONBy Chetan Borkar, CFO, Madison WorldFounded in 1988, Madison World is a diversified communications group that boasts of 24 business units across 11 specialized functions of Advertising, Media, Business Analytics, Outdoor, Activation, Events, PR, Retail, Entertainment, Mobile and Sports. t the stroke of the midnight of 1st July 2017, India turned-over a new leaf. Apprehensions galore saw the introduction of the new tax regime, the biggest tax reform of independent India and abrogation of the outmoded indirect tax legislation. The tax, namely Goods and Services Tax (GST), was set to replace the umpteen archaic laws. The pseudo intellectuals looked at this new law with extreme cynicism. The Big Questions in Most Minds Then· Will GST help?· Will GST simplify the tax system?· Will GST increase the compliance burden?· Does it have any positives?· Are there any negatives?Now that more than a year has passed by since the introduction of GST, we look to catechize the answers to the above questions.Has GST helped?The advantage of having one single in-direct tax system in the entire country across states & union territories has helped to create an end-to-end mecha-nism in which the entire chain can claim input tax credit, thereby eliminating the cascading effect. The ultimate tax payer, i.e., the consumer has benefitted due to lower input cost/purchase price for each constituent in the supply chain, thereby lowering the tax and hence the final market price of the end product. GST as reported by government sources has also helped to enlarge the tax base. The law is nascent & evolving, and hence there is lack of clarity on some contentious issues.GOODS & SERVICES TAX (GST): A PARADIGM SHIFTA
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