New Delhi [India], September 6 (ANI): The recently announced next-generation Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms will significantly benefit India's agriculture sector, particularly the rice industry, Indian Rice Exporters Federation's Vice President, Dev Garg, said.

Talking to ANI, he called the reform 'not just a tax reform, it is an economic reform.'

The reform, according to him, will create a 'huge wave' of new growth opportunities, job creation, and this will supercharge the economy.

Garg pointed out that exporters had long faced bottlenecks in GST registration, which earlier took several weeks.

'Firstly, the time limit for GST registration has now been reduced to three days. Earlier, if we see a new GST registration, it used to take more than 30 to 40 days and this was a very challenging aspect for any large exporter,' he said.

He said the latest GST reform would ease operations across multiple ports.

'If we specifically talk about rice, an exporter may export from Kandla port, from Vizag port, from Mumbai port or from Kakinada port and wherever he feels that there is economic viability, he will undertake exports from that place. Earlier, if I'm an exporter sitting in Delhi and I don't have a GST registration in Andhra Pradesh, then it was very difficult for me to aggregate large amounts of quantity at the port warehouse and export it.'

Another major benefit, Garg said, comes from faster refunds.

'Any exporter would get provisional 90% refund within one week, which has been reduced from earlier 60 days to seven days. If we talk about the rice industry, more than 1230 crores of the rice industry are stuck under GST refunds. By bringing in this enabling provision, the GST refund time has been reduced from 60 days to 7 days and now this more than 1200 crore rupees will be unlocked for the rice industry which will reduce the working capital cycle,' he claimed.

Garg noted that these GST rate cuts will also stimulate consumer demand.

'This new changes will also bring in a wave of fresh consumer demand as we have seen that for most consumer goods, the GST slab has been cut down. This will lead to increased demand from the consumer side,' he continued.

With India expected to reap a record rice harvest this Kharif season, Garg said the timing of the reform was critical.

'This season, which will start from October, November, we anticipate that the crop for high value basmati and other varieties of Indian rice, there will be a huge surplus stock situation. When there is a huge surplus stock situation, we need enhanced consumer demand to uplift the prices and keep the prices for the raw material and the paddy high during the harvest season so that the farmers get their due prices.'

He said consumer will have more disposable income to purchase more goods from the market.

'If earlier somebody was purchasing a low value rice variety of 25 to 35 rupees per kg, today because of this (GST rate rationalization), he will be able to shift to a higher variety of rice. He will be able to eat basmati rice and other high value non-basmati rice varieties,' he argued.

On behalf of around 7,500 exporters of the Indian Rice Exporters Federation, Garg thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government for bringing in this economic reform.

Sweeping changes have been made to what the government termed the next-generation GST (Goods and Services Tax) rationalisation. It came just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced it from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day. This is aimed at reducing the tax burden on citizens while stimulating economic growth.

On Wednesday, the GST Council approved significant rate cuts across multiple sectors - medical, daily staples, agriculture, education, auto, health and life insurance, electronics -- which the government has described as a Diwali gift for the nation. (ANI)