VAT bandh evokes mixed response

A statewide bandh was called for in Maharashtra on April 6 to protest against
the imple-mentation of Value Added Tax (VAT). This was the second time a bandh
was called for VAT in the past 10 days.

Partners are still unclear about the implementation details of VAT and how it
will affect their business. This has given rise to confusion about the new
billing format and calculation of product prices.

However, bandh is no solution and the partners know that. Even though they
are not happy with the VAT roll out, they are even less pleased with the
constant bandhs called by various political parties. "I could only do about
7-10 percent of the business compared to what we do on a regular working day.
This is because my suppliers were shut today," said Rahul Zaveri,
Proprietor, Apex Enterprises. This has adversely impacted his entire supply
chain.

Ditto was the case with Ashwin Kukreja of RealTime Computers. Not only this
bandh resulted in business loss but a mob come over to his outlet and forced him
to close shop. "Bandhs like this are futile," he said. There are
others who feel the same way. Bharat Mehta, Partner at Challenger Technologies
believes that instead of downing shutters, talking to higher authorities may
have been more fruitful.

However, the bandh has its supporters as well. Manish Jain of Microlink
justified the bandh saying there are a number of related issues that need to be
sorted out. Because of these problems the company has not yet begun billing in
the current fiscal. "A bandh is important to attract attention to the
issue," he said.

And the trade association has been of little help in the issue. Zaveri of
Apex elaborated that the Trade Association of IT (TAIT) has not given out any
circular stating a particular set of guidelines to be followed. The confusion in
VAT implementation continues to reign. Now, there is a talk of observing an
indefinite bandh from April 10.

Amishi Shah

Mumbai