Industry delegation meets Arora, seeks automated GST refunds

A delegation of FICO (Federation of Industrial & Commercial Organisation) met the Minister for Industries, Sanjeev Arora, and submitted a memorandum on getting automated GST refunds.

The industrialists said the government was not releasing the GST refunds. They added that while finished products like bicycles, sewing machines and agriculture implements fell under the 5 per cent slab, raw materials fell under the higher slab of 18 per cent due to the inverted duty structure. This, they said, led to the GST refunds getting stuck with the government. They rued that the refunds were the industry’s money and must be released immediately.

The industrialists said that the industry was facing a situation of working capital deficit resulting in over usage of the bank limits with firms paying higher interests to the banks. FICO president Gurmit Singh Kular said that the government should intervene with the GST officials concerned, and allow the GST refunds to be released automatically after the returns are filed.

Besides, the FICO delegation also pointed out that the department, despite using a four-stage purchase verification process, was issuing notices even when the suppliers existed and transactions were valid. The delegation requested that verification process should be simplified to three stages, adding that this would improve the ease of doing business in Punjab.