COMMONWEALTH JOURNAL OF COMMERCE & MANAGEMENT RESEARCH IMPACT OF GST ON SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIES WITH REFERENCE TO COIMBATORE CITY

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1 IMPACT OF GST ON SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIES WITH REFERENCE TO COIMBATORE CITY S. Deivamani Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, P.S.G.R Krishnammal College for women, Peelamedu, Coimbatore S. RajaRajeshwari III BBA(IB), P.S.G.R Krishnammal College for women, Peelamedu, Coimbatore B. Keerthana III BBA(IB),P.S.G.R Krishnammal College for women, Peelamedu, Coimbatore ABSTRACT GST is a comprehensive tax system that will subsume all indirect taxes of State and central Governments and whole economy into seamless nation in national market. Introduction of GST increased transparency and simplify the old tax system, hence documentation cost have been reducing and increasing the ease of business for start-ups. GST is one of the most critical tax reforms in India which was implemented by Government of India with an aim to remove the multiple tax system, to boost the economy and moreover eradicate corruption. The GST System is basically structured to simplify current Indirect Tax system in India. This paper tries to analyse the impact of GST on Small Scale Industries with reference to Coimbatore city since, this city considered as a pool of SSI units it can be helpful to bring out the implications of Goods and Service Tax on small business KEY WORDS: GST, Indirect tax system, Small Scale Industries, Start ups 37

2 INTRODUCTION India has posed a symbol of hope with striving growth targets, supported by a bunch of strategic undertakings such as the Make in India and Digital India campaigns. It enhances the position of India in both, domestic as well as international market. At the consumer level, GST reduces the overall tax burden, which is currently estimated at 25-30%. The expectation on GST was high not only within the country, but also within neighbouring countries and developed economies of the world. Experts say that GST will help in economic growth of the country in long term perspective. Before implementing GST it was expected to change the whole scenario of previous Indirect Tax system. GST merges all Indirect Taxes under an umbrella and help in creation of smooth market. It was estimated that GST will help in creation of single, uniform market that will benefit both corporate sector and the Indian economy. Both the State and the Central Government will levy GST on almost all goods and services produced in India or imported into the country. Direct taxes, such as income tax, corporate tax and capital gains tax will not be affected by GST. GST replaced different Indirect Tax levies i.e. Sales Tax, Service Tax, VAT, Excise Duty, Custom Duty, Countervailing Additional Duty, Special Additional Duty, Securities Transaction Tax, Stamp Duty, Entertainment Tax, Anti-Dumping Duty, Local Body Taxes, Property Tax, Entry Tax, Tax and Duties on electricity, Tax on Goods and Passengers and compliance cost also fell which led in getting life simpler especially for start ups. On 12 April 2017, the Central Government enacted four GST Bills: Central GST (CGST) Integrated GST (IGST) Union Territory GST (UTGST) Bill to Compensate States In a short span of time, all the states approved their State GST (SGST) laws. Union territories with legislature, i.e., Delhi & Puducherry, have adopted SGST Act and the balance 5 Union territories without legislatures have adopted UTGST Act. The government has also notified GST 38

3 rules, tax rates on goods and services, exemption list and categories of services on which reverse charge is applicable. It is quite natural for a pervasive, country-wide tax reform, as GST is, to have a mixed opinion. Furthermore, the revolutionary tax regime will have acceptance that will vary from state to state. Overall, the new tax proposals under GST are a mixed verdict. In essence, the GST s effect on the entire Indian economy will have to be scrutinized in totality to reach a widely accepted conclusion. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the primary growth drivers of the Indian economy with more than three million SMEs operating in India, contributing to almost 50 percent of the industrial output and 42 percent of India s total exports. A leading employmentgenerating sector, SMEs have provided balanced development across sectors Experts have enlisted the benefits of GST as under: GST is a transparent tax and also reduces number of indirect taxes. GST is a comprehensive indirect tax that was designed to bring the indirect taxation under one umbrella. GST has given an option for small businesses to lower taxes by utilizing the Composition scheme. This move has brought down the tax and compliance burden on many small businesses. GST reduces manufacturing costs due to lower burden of taxes on the manufacturing sector. Hence prices of consumer goods will be likely to come down. Low manufacturing costs will reduce the price of the products leads to boost the demand and consumption of goods. Increased demand will lead to increase supply. Hence, this will ultimately lead to rise in the production of goods. Former, the logistics industry in India had to maintain multiple warehouses across states which led to increased operating costs but, under GST, however, these 39

4 restrictions on inter-state movement of goods have been reduced and which increased the efficiency of logistics. ABOUT SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIES IN COMBATORE: Small scale industries play a significant role in the overall growth of an economy. This industry is mainly specialized in the production of consumer commodities. SSIs generate huge employment due to the utilization of labour power for the production of goods. In a developing country like India where unemployment is a major problem; these industries pave the way for employment of skilled and non-skilled persons. Coimbatore is one among the industrially developed and commercially vibrant districts of Tamil Nadu. It has got high concentration of small scale industries and medium and large scale industries. It is known as the Manchester of South India because of its well developed textile industry and other industrial base. Coimbatore is also famous for the manufacture of motor pump sets and wide-range of engineering goods. The result has been a strong economy and a reputation as one of the greatest industrial cities in South India. The implementation of GST is certainly going to affect this sector and the employees associated with it. Earlier, any manufacturer with a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore or less was not required to comply with the rules of excise duty. However, with the merging of all State and Central level taxes into the ambit of GST, any manufacturer with a turnover of Rs 20 lakh (others) /10Lakh (Special category states) or more will have to comply with GST and its procedures. All the compliance procedures under GST registration, payments, refunds and returns will now be carried out through online portals only and thus SMEs need not worry about interacting with department officers for carrying out these compliances, which are considered as a headache in the current tax regime. 40

5 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The present study is carried out with the following objectives: 1. To analyse the impact of the implementation of goods and service tax on small scale industries in Coimbatore. 2. To study the problems and prospects of administration of the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST). 3. To study the inexplicit opinions among the small scale manufactures about the Goods and Services Tax (GST). 4. To study the Challenges faced by the small and medium enterprises in Coimbatore after the implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST). SCOPE OF THE STUDY The study was conducted to analyze the impact of the implementation of goods and service tax. It covered the opinions of the small scale manufacturers in Coimbatore. It brought to light the beneficial and non-beneficial impacts of GST. GST is meant to bring every indirect form of tax under one roof. The old tax regime requires new entrepreneurs to obtain VAT registration for every state separately, with each state having its own rules. Though GST too requires businesses to register in each state, the rules for GST are more uniform and outlined clearly on the portal. This will make it easier to set up a Small scale enterprise.the study is based on the views expressed by the small scale entrepreneurs in Coimbatore city about the impact of the implementation of Goods and service tax on their business. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Every work has its own limitation. Limitations are extent to which the process should not exceed. This research is carried out in Coimbatore city only therefore, research can be extended to other cities of Tamil Nadu. The sample of respondent in Coimbatore city limits the findings since, people mind set about the survey was obstacles in acquiring complete information. Respondents were very busy in their schedule. So it was very time consuming for information & positive interaction, them to answer all the questions properly. The result and findings are based 41

6 on the opinion of the respondents and it cannot be generalised. Sample can be huge; even more entire Tamil Nadu can be covered. LITERATURE REVIEW Archit Gupta (2017) in his article highlighted that, any business with operations running in different states of the country requires VAT registration under the state laws and regulations. Different taxation rules in different states only increases complications and high procedural fees requirements. Under GST, there will be a centralised registration and it will make doing business simpler, easier and the resulting expansion will be beneficial to SMEs. Ashima kalra (2017) in their study on Impact of GST on startups and small businesses, highlighted on the new GST procedure is a fully functional online set-up which makes return filling smooth and easy. Those start-ups and small business looking forward to building strong financial ground for them by easing how they are doing their business can simply file their returns through GST online porta and this will also reduces operational cost. Jayesh sanghrajka, suggestes that the implementation of GST is certainly going to affect small scale sector and the employees associated with it. Any tax-regime should ensure such an environment in which the proper growth of small scale industries may be assured. The First Discussion Paper (FDP) produced by the Empowered committee of state finance minist ers and report of the thirteenth finance commission s Task Force have provided some important suggestions with respect to this sector to exempt from the tax. Mohit Tater (2017) research on Impact of GST on small business, explored that almost 50% of industrial output is contributed by small businesses. After GST, like other business sectors even small enterprises have been affected. There is no doubt that GST is aimed to increase the base of taxpayer, mainly in small business into its scope and will put the burden of rules and regulations and cost on them. 42

7 Nitin Kumar (2014) too believes that implementation of GSTin India will help in removing economic distortion by current indirect tax system and expected to encourage unbiased tax structure which is indifferent to geographical locations. Sunil Gupta (2017) observed that, the new tax stands to significantly benefit both businesses and consumers, and improve the overall taxation structure in India. Under GST, a uniform tax rate would create a seamless market across the country. Apart from that, the elimination of distinction between goods and services will also help in reducing instances of tax evasion. While there are several advantages that come with this new taxation structure, its impact on the Indian SME sector is expected to vary across different segments. Mr.R. Narayan (2016) in his research highlighted that, with a goal to create one single market, the GST bill will boost economic growth with some optimistic estimates suggesting an added 2%. With the unified taxation system proposed, issues relating to regulatory uncertainty will be resolved and shipment costs will reduce resulting in business growth for the organizations in this sector. This tax system has been applied by most of the developed countries, as it helps protect businesses against multiple taxations. The GST will also ensure that there is a reduction in logistics costs bringing great relief to manufacturing SME sector. Subhash jha (2017) in his research, suggested that small businesses and start-ups which have a small financial base and income are exempted to pay tax which is greater than the present tax regime and as such the Start-ups and small businesses stand to benefit as they are aiming towards building a sound financial ground, and to provide ease in doing business, GST provides that with a portal to submit your returns on, there is relaxation in the invoicing measure incorporating the uncertain nature of business, and due to this IT supported network a series of costs have been reduced. 43

8 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Design: Research design is a logical and systematically plan prepared for directing a research study. It is the program that guides the investigator in the process of collecting, analysing and interpreting data. Descriptive research design has been used for this study. Descriptive research is those which are concerned with describing the characteristic of a particular individual or group. Data Collection Methods: Data collection begins after research problem has been defined and research design plan is chalked out. The researcher collected both primary data and secondary data. Secondary Data- Secondary data was collected from the internet, articles from scholarly journals and books to have in depth understand of the topic and help constitute and validate the survey questions Primary Data - Primary data was collected with an aid of a Structure questionnaire distributed through online channels via google forms, , and manually at different small scale industries to fill in the questionnaire on the voluntary basis. The data collection was done using a questionnaire of 25questions (including demographic information), which consisted of closed and open ended questions. The questionnaire was designed to collect data about the perception and impact of GST on Small scale industries in Coimbatore. Sample Size: A total of 70 responses were collected from respondents ranging from age group of years. Convenience sampling technique was adopted for this study. Data Analysis Technique: The collected data were analysed by applying statistical techniques using EXCEL along with charts and graphs to reach the conclusion. The main findings of the study are elaborated in the next section. 44

9 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 1. SIMPLE PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS TABLE 1: DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF THE SAMPLE Description Frequency Percentage Gender Male 55 79% Female 15 21% Age group of the Respondents Monthly Turnover % % % % % Less than 50, % 50,000-1,00, % 1,00,000-1,50, % 1,50,000-2,00, % Nature of the Industry or Enterprise Above 2,00, % Manufacturing sector 34 49% Service sectors 29 41% Textile industry 7 10% Source: Computed from primary data 45

10 Out of the 70 respondents, 79% were males and 21% were females. Majority 43% belonged to age group of years followed by 34% who belonged to the age group of years and 13% belonged to the age group of Only 5 people belonged to the age group of years and 2 were belonged to age group of Out of the respondents, majority 44% belonged to the monthly turnover of less than 50,000, followed by 23% who belonged to the turnover of 50,000-1,00,000.Only 8 people fall under the category of 1,50,000-2,00,000 and 6 people who earned above 2,00,000 as their monthly turnover. Regarding nature of industry 49% of the sample belonged to the Manufacturing sector and 41% who belonged to Service sectors and 10 % of the respondents belonged to Textile industry. TABLE NO 2: TAXATION PROCESS HAS BECOE SIMPLER S. no Opinion No of respondents Percentages 1. Yes 45 64% 2. No 25 36% Total Source: Primary data INTERPRETATION: Respondents were asked about the taxation process and 64% of the respondents said that the taxation process has become simpler on GST compare to old tax system and the remaining 36% of the respondents said that the taxation process has not become simpler on GST. 46

11 FIGURE 1: TAXATION PROCESS HAS BECOE SIMPLER TAXATION PROCESS HAS BECOE SIMPLER No 36% Yes 64% TABLE NO 3: SATISFACTION LEVEL OF THE RESPONDENTS TOWARDS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GST S. no Opinion No of respondents Percentages 1. Very satisfied 6 9% 2. Somewhat satisfied 25 36% 3. Neutral 31 44% 4. dissatisfied 3 4% 5. Not at all satisfied 5 7% TOTAL Source: Primary data INTERPRETATION: Respondents were asked to rate the satisfaction level towards the implementation of Goods and Service Tax. As per the study, majority of the respondents (44%) Neutral with the GST implementation, 36% of the respondents are somewhat satisfied towards the execution of GST, 47

12 and about 4% of the respondents are dissatisfied towards the GST. Only 7% of respondents not at all satisfied with the establishment of new tax system. FIGURE 2: SATISFACTION LEVEL OF THE RESPONDENTS TOWARDS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GST Satisfaction level towards GST implementation 4% 7% 44% 9% 36% Very satisfied Somewhat satisfied Neutral dissatisfied Not at all satisfied TABLE 4: REVISION IN PRICES OF GOODS AND SERVICES S. no Opinion No of respondents Percentage 1. Yes, upward price revision 31 44% 2. Yes, downward price revision 25 36% 3. No revision necessary 14 20% TOTAL Source: Primary data INTERPRETATION: On being asked about the price revision of goods and services, 44% of the respondents said that Yes, upward price revision carried out and 36% expressed that downward price revision 48

13 conceded due to new tax regime. Only 14 respondents said that there was no need for any price revision with regard to GST. FIGURE 3: REVISION IN PRICES OF GOODS AND SERVICES Revision in prices of goods and services 44% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Yes, upward price revision 36% Yes, downward price revision 20% No revision necessary TABLE NO 5: REMOVAL OF MULTIPLE TAXATION HELPS IN REDUCING THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS S. no Opinion No of respondents Percentage 1. Extremely 17 24% 2. Moderately 41 59% 3. Not at all 12 17% TOTAL Source: Primary data 49

14 INTERPRETATION: On being asked the removal of multiple taxation helps in reducing the cost of doing business, 24% of the respondents feel that extremely removal of the multiple taxation helps in reducing the cost of doing business, 59% of the respondents feel that moderately the removal of the multiple taxation helps in reducing the cost of doing business. Only 17% feel that, elimination of multiple taxation not at all helps in reducing the cost of doing business. FIGURE 4: REMOVAL OF MULTIPLE TAXATION HELPS IN REDUCING THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS Removal of Multiple Taxation helps in reducing cost of doing business 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 59% 24% 17% Extremely Moderately Not at all TABLE 6: CASH FLOW ISSUE ARISING FROM THE GST IMPLEMENTATION S. no Opinion No of respondents Percentage 1. No cash flow issue 5 7% 2. Lack of working capital 24 34% 3. Had to lay off staff 9 13% 4. Need to seek additional capital(fund) 32 46% TOTAL Source: Primary data 50

15 INTERPRETATION: Respondents were asked to give their opinion about cash flow issues arising from the GST implementation and majority of respondents (46%) said that GST implementation led to seek additional capital in order to run their business, 34% of respondents said that there was lacking in working capital. Only 5 people said that there was no issue with regard to GST implementation on their business. FIGURE5: CASH FLOW ISSUE ARISING FROM THE GST IMPLEMENTATION 50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% CASH FLOW ISSUE ARISING FROM THE GST IMPLEMENTATION 7% No cash flow issue 34% Lack of working capital 13% Had to lay off staff 46% Need to seek additional capital(fund) 2 WEIGHTED AVERAGE RANKING METHOD Respondents were asked to give their opinion on the different areas of work need to be carried out with regard to GST implementation. Based on the data collected from respondents, weighted average method was applied to analyse the impact and give a rank on different areas of work undertaken related to GST implementation by assigning weights to each factor. Aim To find out impact on different areas of work need to be carried out with regard to GST implementation. 51

16 Table no 7 Areas of work/ Opinion Easy Moderate Difficult Total Score Weighted Average mean Ranks Reduction in paper work III Registration of SSI Under GST II Change in business software I Customer satisfaction IV Source: Primary data INTERPRETATION From the analysis it can be seen that Change in the business software is ranked first hence, business have to change their entire billing system with the pace of new tax, registration of SSI under GST is ranked second, paper work related to Goods and Service Tax is ranked third and finally, achieving customer satisfaction is ranked fourth since apart from serving customers, small scale industries need to do more ground work for implementing new tax regime in their business. 3. COEFFICIENT OF CORRELATION Null hypothesis There is no relationship between removals of multiple taxation helps in reducing the cost of doing business and reduction in the cost of logistics Alternate hypothesis There is a relationship between removals of multiple taxation helps in reducing the cost of doing business and reduction in the cost of logistics 52

17 TABLE NO 8 Correlation of reduction in the cost of doing business & reduction in the cost of logistics Variables Reduction in the cost of logistics Reduction in the cost of logistics Reduction in the cost of doing business Pearson s correlation * Sig.(2-tailed) N Reduction in the cost of doing business Pearson s correlation 0.655* 1 Sig.(2-tailed) *Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2- tailed) Source: Primary data N INTERPRETATION: A simple correlation was performed to test the relationship between removals of multiple taxation helps in reducing the cost of doing business and reduction in the cost of logistics. For the relationship between reduction in cost of doing business and reduction in cost of logistics, a significant positive relationship is found, r= 0.655, n=70, p=0.000; supporting alternate hypothesis. This positive relationship suggests that GST implementation leads to reduction in cost of doing business as well as reduction in the cost of logistics also. 53

18 MAJOR FINDINGS Majority of the respondents (64%) were expressed their positive opinion on taxation process and it has become simpler on GST compare to old tax system. While analysing impact of GST on small scale industries majority of respondents (44%) were neutral with its implementation irrespective of its complexity and only 7% said not at all satisfied with GST. GST implementation had an impact on pricing policies of goods and services. Majority of respondents (44%) carried out upward price revision of their goods and services in order to deal with new tax regime at the same time 36% of respondents reduced price of their goods and services. Removals of multiple taxation system moderately (59%) helped in reduction of cost of doing their business compare to old system. Implementation of Goods and Service Tax had an impact on business with some modification on certain areas. First led to changes in their business software since entire billing system was revised with the pace of changes in price of the goods and services secondly, registration of SSI under small scale industries became mandatory in order to file their tax returns thirdly, GST led to reduction in paper work since everything through online portals and finally customer satisfaction became very big question since hike in price especially service sectors like hotels, restaurants faced big issues due to new tax system. It was interesting to note that there was a positive relationship between reduction in cost of doing business and reduction in cost of logistics due to removals of multiple taxation system. This shows that GST implementation had positive impact also irrespective of its criticisms. 54

19 CONCLUSION From this study, it becomes clear that the implementation of GST has both positive and negative impact on SSI units since, small scale businesses could not easily make transformation on their whole business with the light of new system. Though GST make life simpler for small scale industries in the reduction in tax rate and uniformity across all states and elimination of entry tax their concerns might included increased compliance costs and numerous returns. The distinction between the services and goods will be gone, and this will make compliance easier. Small scale industries had uncertainties about transitioning to GST and getting used to the new tax regime within a short period of time. Also there are a lot of private firms and even government of India is trying to create awareness about the new changes and developments. Since GST is a destination based tax, both imported goods and goods manufactured locally will be paying the same amount of tax, will boost companies to localise their manufacturing in India. Without any doubt, in the long term GST is expected to have a positive impact on small scale industries and the Indian economy as a whole. REFERENCES Journals: Ansari K, Jain G. Impact of GST on Indian start-ups. International Education and Research Journal.Vol 3, No 5, (2017) Monika Tushir Bohra (2014) has conducted a study on The Goods and Service Tax its likely Impact of Indian Economy International Journal of Economic Issues, Vol. 7, No. 2 Monika Sehrawat, Upasana Dhanda (2015) conducted a research paper on GST in India- A key Tax Reform [Sehrawat et. al., Vol.3 (Iss.12) ISSN (O) ISSN (P) Impact Factor: (I2OR) Kour M, Chaudhary K, Singh S, Kaur B,2016, A Study On Impact Of GST After Its Implementation, International Journal of Innovative Studies in Sociology and Humanities (IJISSH) Volume: 1 Issue: 2 November

20 Saurabh Suman, Study on New GST Era and its Impact on Small Businesses Entrepreneurs, Journal of Accounting, Finance & Marketing TechnologyVol. 1, Issue, p, August, 2017 Articles: Economic Outlook,2017,Impact of GST on Small and Medium Enterprises Paras Mehra, C.A, 24 March 2017, How GST will affect small businesses Ragini Bhuyan, Sep , How GST has affected small businesses Rajath Kumar,June 28, 2017, Implications of GST on SMEs Pranbihanga Borpuzari,,Aug 04, 2016, A myth that GST will negatively impact SMEs Ribhu sharma,february 9, 2018, Impact of GST on SMES, MSME and Startups Mohul Ghosh, Jun 6, 2017, GST For Freelancers & Small Business Owners WEBSITES