Indian industry has pitched for a standard rate of 18 per cent once the myriad of indirect taxes are rolled into one under the proposed goods and services tax (GST). It has also asked for shifting the April 1 deadline for its rollout. Besides, e-commerce companies like Amazon and Flipkart, which would come under GST net and are expected to have more compliance burden, made a strong case for being out of its purview. The EC, however, refused to buy the argument of e-tailers that they only offered a trading platform, and instead questioned that if that were indeed the case, they would not command such high valuation. The industry’s concerns were aired at a meeting of various industry associations with the empowered committee of state finance ministers (EC) ahead of finalising the GST laws. The government has so far only hinted that the standard GST rate would be higher than 18 per cent, as any decision with regards to rate, slabs and exemptions, among others, would be taken by the GST council, the apex decision-making body, after the nation migrates to the new tax regime. Fearing revenue loss in the new system, states like Maharashtra and Gujarat have pressed for higher GST rate. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) suggested that GST rate of 18 per cent would be reasonable and said it would contribute to growth, employment and higher income. “We believe a maximum rate of 18 per cent as standard rate will be revenue neutral and ensure adequate tax buoyancy. Also, the centre has agreed for full five-year compensation for revenue loss to states, so 18 per cent rate would be more than adequate,” CII president Naushad Forbes said. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) asked for a “reasonable” standard rate that was non-inflationary and would not provoke evasion. “Goods fully exempted from the levy of excise duty and VAT by all the states should be categorised as exempted goods in the GST regime as well,” it said. EC chairman and West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra assured traders and industry representatives that their concerns would be looked into. As many as 11 states, including non-NDA ruled Bihar and Delhi, have ratified the GST bill and after the tally crosses 16, the President will give his assent for its notification in the official gazette. Following this, approval of the Union cabinet would be sought for formation of GST council. In parallel, the Centre and state governments are finalising their respective legislations -- the Centre for Central GST (CGST) and Integrated GST (IGST), while the states for their respective state GSTs (SGSTs). GST seeks to subsume all major indirect taxes levied by the Centre and the states. The government has planned to pass the legislations in the winter session of Parliament later this year, so that it can replace the existing tax laws from April 1, 2017. While the government is yet to arrive at a revenue-neutral rate, which will maintain both the central and states’ tax collections at current levels, a panel headed by chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian suggested last December to keep it at 15-15.5 per cent. He proposed different rates for essential goods (12 per cent) and sin goods (40 per cent). For the other rest 60-70 per cent, he suggested a standard rate in a band of 16.9 per cent to 18.9 per cent.