While the national average is 23%, West Bengal leads the pack with as high as 77% in new tax registration under the GST regime in India. The figures were disclosed by Mr Arvind Singh, the new principal commissioner, GST & CX, eastern regionat a session titled “Democratisation of Services” on the second of the two-day ICT East organized by CII here on Friday. 

According to him, even states such as Gujarat and Maharashtra are behind West Bengal in GST registration. The figure speaks highly of West Bengal, Mr Singh said, adding that about 245,000 people in the state are tax payers while the number in the country stands at around 8 million. 

“GST, which is technology driven, is eliminating human interfaces. Not only has it brought a wonderful change in the entire psyche of businesses, it has given birth to a whole new vocabulary. Words such as OTP and digital signature have emerged. The challenge is to make sure even small business people understand these parlances,” Mr Singh said, adding, “Democratisation of services means larger participation of the common people, not just the big ones. Please make particular efforts to popularize these words.”

That GST is technology driven is itself a “huge opportunity” for businesses, Mr Singh observed. 

Earlier, Mr Dipankar Chakrabarti, Executive Director – Advisory Risk & Quality Management Leader, PwC India, who chaired the session, said democratization means that the masses must get the advantage of the new technology. “People must be provided with an easy way to understand data. “ It requires sharing information in a form that everyone can read and understand. It requires timely communication about what is happening in a relevant and personal way. It means giving people the stories that are trapped in the data so they can do something with the information,” he said. 

The other speakers at the session were Mr Dhruv Singhal, India Head, Solution Architecture, Amazon Internet Services Pvt Limited; Mr Nitin Sawant, Managing Director – Advanced Technology Architecture Practice, Accenture India; Mr Vir Inder Nath, CEO – West Bengal & Odisha Circle, Bharti AirtelBSE 1.45 % Limited; and Mr Sayandeb Banerjee, Founder & CEO, The Math Company. 

Source: Economic Times

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