Confusion reigns supreme at Delhi border checkpoints

Less than eight hours before India was to keep its tryst with the “biggest tax reform since Independence”, at Kundli — the entry point for trucks bringing goods from Haryana to Delhi — there was absolute confusion over how the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime will be implemented.

The new nationwide tax is meant to replace a mosaic of central and state levies and remove check posts at borders. But rumours and half-truths float around. Talk to truckers and owners of transport companies as well as tax officials, and the impression that one gets is that the ground work that should have been done to “educate” these people hasn’t happened so far.

“It’s like a movie, which may be very good or very bad. But you have to watch it completely since the trailer leaves you completely in the dark. What is happening now is that we have the trailer of GST. It will be clear after a few days — if not weeks — whether the movie (GST) will be a hit or not,” says a senior official of a private logistics company at Kundli border.

There is no octroi on goods being brought into Delhi, but there is an …read more