Vasanth Kumar, Executive Director, Max Fashion India
To me, GST is a game changer because in India, with over 29 states we have lot of hurdles existing during inter state transfers . With too many processes involved and many change of hand happening in retail from yarn to in store sales due to various duties , taxes, and levies being charged a number of time,s it is tedious. Whereas in GST everything will be digitised with seamless flow through things will be done quite fast and efficient.
In India over 70% of apparel and footwear retail is still unorganised. GST regime will bring in much more clarity in many areas of business. It will now be a level playing field and the focus will be more on expansion of the organized retail segment across India. It sends lot of positive signal and domestic vendors will be benefitted. They will now be dealing with a larger units ,and supply chain , transport segment will develop because one can think of of having single large warehouse and deliver anywhere in the country with ease. This will enhance agility and add advantage to the fashion industry and eventually all stake holders will be benefitted.
This changeover to GST will not only benefit our industry but across other sectors too due to cascading effect . Everything becomes simpler so our focus will now be on the enhancement of value to the end consumer through product and experience than managing the channel dynamics.