Roadside vendors go for composition scheme

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 6

The trading community in the city may be sceptical about the implications of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), many roadside vendors have opted for the composition scheme under the GST even as their annual turnover is below Rs 20 lakh.

Vendors, who fall under the unorganised sector, informed that the GST number ensured hassles-free movement of goods procured by them from the state of their origin to the destination state. In absence of the GST number, they had to allegedly bribe the tax authorities or pay penalties.

Under the GST regime, registration was not mandatory for traders with an aggregate turnover below Rs 20 lakh. Further, small vendors with aggregate turnover above Rs 20 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore have to pay tax at the uniform rate of 1 per cent.

“We belong to the unorganised sector. Before GST, we were not getting bills from dealers in Delhi. In transit, tax officials used to impose penalty. We had to bribe them to get away with it. Post GST, the penalties are huge which were eating away our profits. So we decided to have a GST number and opted for the composition scheme,” said Dalip Singh, a readymade clothes vendor in Sector 22.

Aakash, a roadside vendor dealing in crockery, said, “Getting registered under the GST meant hassle-free movement of goods and no harassment by tax officials. So I requested my CA to get me a GST number and he suggested me the composition scheme.” Ranjit, who sells socks in the Sector 22 market, had the similar views.

The roadside vendors maintained that they wanted to expand their area of operation and for that they would be in dire need of finances. By declaring their genuine income through GST, they can have access to bank loans.

Ish Prakash, another roadside vendor, said, “Many vendors in the Sector-22 market are retailing small articles for the past several years. The registration is likely to help them in getting loans from banks for personal as well as professional purposes.”