India’s tax overhaul is not delivering the benefits truckers expected
New Delhi — Trucking firms like Caravan Roadways, which has more than 500 brightly painted vehicles crisscrossing India, were meant to see immediate benefits from the biggest tax reform in India’s modern history. But the chaotically implemented goods and services tax is derailing the government’s revenue target and has not much improved trade within Asia’s third-biggest economy. "Suspicious states" — anxious to retain pre-GST earnings — are stepping up vigilance at their borders, according to Crisil, and there is little in the legislation to deter officials seeking bribes. "The people who were earlier on the check posts, who were getting money, they are getting the same through other means," said Rakesh Kaul, a vice-president at Caravan Roadways. While some border posts were replaced by a system of supposedly randomised checking, "Right now, they’re not doing random checking, they’re checking every vehicle," he said. These developments are eroding the effectiveness of a tax that was...
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