On 6 July 2017, Delhi Printers’ Association (DPA) organized a seminar on GST providing guidance and clarification on Harmonized System of Nomenclature Codes (HSN) and rates on different types of services and goods involved. Uday V Dhote, chairman – finance and taxation of All India Federation of Master Printers, said, “GST appears to be a higher rate of tax because it is a combination of 17 types of taxes, such as VAT, Excise, Octroi, and others which sometimes result in double taxation.”
Dhote said that if printing is done with paper supplied by customer, it is called ‘Supply of Service’ while printing done on paper used from a printer’s stock is called ‘Supply of Goods.’ As per Dhote, as soon as the prevailing confusion on GST is cleared, business will definitely improve. The government will also earn more since GST is PAN-based and it will not be possible to evade payment of tax. He advised that printers should not take a negative attitude towards GST and should look at it in a positive way
Arvind Mardikar, treasurer of All India Federation of Master Printers and editor of Printing Times, said, “It is all very simple and easy. GST has been enforced and already accepted by all. Previously, the tax was manufacturing-based, but now it is consumption-based. Since all sorts of taxes have been merged into one, we must adopt and follow the simplified tax.” Mardikar praised the printing fraternity stating that they are in the most creative field of life and can meet all types of challenges. “We should not allow our work to linger on for the next day, but complete it on a day-to-day basis.”
Santosh Kumar of GSTO explained GST by saying that it is a new concept not only for trade and industry but also for their own department. However, he assured printers of all help from his department stating that the GST department is a ‘Friendly Department’ and that printers could come and meet GSTOs of their particular ward to get help in case of any confusion on the applicability of GST.
During the seminar, Yes Bank, one of the supporters of the event, gave a PowerPoint presentation to offer financial assistance to printers through customized loans on easy terms. Max Rollers was the other supporter and its banner was displayed at the venue.
