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Maharashtra Govt urged to set final date for abolition of octroi
Our Bureau
Mumbai
,
Aug. 3
Traders and business community representatives in Maharashtra want the State Government to set a final date for the abolition of octroi.
The Subodh Kant report on octroi has also recommended its abolition. Traders in Maharashtra have been calling for the abolition of octroi for the last 20 years. The Maharashtra Octroi Abolition Committee (MOAC) has been spearheading a campaign for its abolition. MOAC held a meeting of all traders' organisations on Thursday.
Addressing the gathering, Mr Nayan Patel, President of the Indian Merchants Chamber, said that exports are booming at 22 per cent and the shipment of goods via Mumbai port was getting affected. Octroi levy is making Indian goods non-competitive in the international market. Logistically it is becoming impossible to transport goods one day prior to the shipment, he said.
Currently, octroi is levied in Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra. However, after September 1, Punjab would be abolishing octroi.
Maharashtra annually collects Rs 5,572 crore as octroi. Out of the 22 municipalities in the State, the cumulative collection of 15 municipalities is only about Rs 700 crore.
Mr Mohan Gurunani, President of Federation of Associations of Maharashtra, said that octroi replacement was only a matter of time but Sate Government should not replace it with a levy, which is more cumbersome. `Otherwise the medicine would be more deadly that the disease'. Additional VAT at the rate of four per cent could be levied on goods but the State Government should be able to transfer the collected VAT without any intermediary mechanism to the municipalities, he said.
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