Cabinet Secretary tells officials to ensure calibration of billing machines

New Delhi, July 3 (IANS) With a view to pass the GST benefits to consumers, Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha in a post-GST review meeting on Monday asked the officials and departments concerned to ensure retailers calibrate their computerised billing as per the new rates.

"Sinha said that the government should ensure benefits of Goods and Services Tax (GST) are passed on to consumers which would in turn also keep inflation under control. He asked that various machines used by dealers, retailers for computerised billing should be calibrated at the earliest as per the new GST rates," an official statement said.

The Cabinet Secretary also asked the concerned departments to ensure that retailers, dealers/ shopkeepers display a ready price list under GST of items sold by them.

Secretaries/senior officers of different departments, including Textile, Food and Consumer Affairs, Food Processing, Railways, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Rural Development, Tourism, Fertiliser, Pharma and Financial Services, participated in the review meeting, among others.

"The review was focused on consumer impact of GST. Special emphasis was laid on to keep prices of essential commodities under check," the statement said.

"Government has asked all the departments to ensure that there is no shortage of products and consumer items in order to keep a check on prices," it said.

Each ministry has been asked to provide all the relevant information on GST along with the tax rates on their respective websites.

Sinha asked senior government officials to take the responsibility of the stakeholders, trade and industry and along with the state officers ensure a smooth implementation of GST.

He also asked the departments to be ready to deal with GST queries of the respective stakeholders.

The officers of every ministry need to equip themselves and have full knowledge of the details relating to GST concerning their respective ministry, Sinha said.

Similar weekly review meetings will be held to keep a close watch on GST roll-out, the statement added.

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