Why ‘little India’ is struggling with Modi’s GST revolution
Confusion and uncertainty swept through India’s $2 trillion economy as businesses and consumers alike attempted to navigate a new nationwide sales tax
India has vowed that a new nationwide tax will revolutionise the economy by bringing more businesses into the digital system to enrich state coffers, but for shopkeeper Sanjay Kumar Rai, who has never used a computer, the transition is terrifying.
Rai is one of tens of thousands of small traders fearful of the goods and services tax (GST) launched Saturday that aims to create a single market in place of a labyrinthine system of more than a dozen national and state levies.
Under the new regime, businesses will have to register with the GST network and file invoices and tax returns online at least once a month.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has compared the changes to getting used to a new pair of eye glasses. But India’s army of small business owners like Rai are in a digital panic.
At his shoebox-sized stationery store in central Delhi, Rai carefully notes down all sales in a traditional thick ledger book in Hindi. He has no laptop and says he would not know how to use one if it was placed in front of him.
“I’m uneducated,” he said.