Logistics operators in India are stepping-up efforts to enhance international connections before the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) is introduced this year, which is expected to revolutionise domestic and international trade.
The India-based director of one leading global forwarder told IFW that although the finer details of the GST remained undecided, "if the GST proceeds along similar lines to the most recent proposals we have seen, it will encourage companies to establish larger warehouses to serve as national distribution centres".
He added: "They would be located at strategic points, based on the speed-to-market needed. [This will] have positive cost reductions for most companies."
As exclusively reported in IFW in October, the countrywide GST will streamline the existing system so that a uniform rate of tax is imposed only once on products, at the point of supply.
Although the deadline of 1 April is expected to slide by six months, the consensus in India is that a GST rate of around 16% will be settled upon, with individual states and the federal government each getting around 8% of the proceeds.
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Source: ifw-net
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