In what is a major vote of confidence for the recently introduced Goods & Services Tax (GST), Dr Pawan Goenka, managing director, Mahindra & Mahindra, has come out strongly in favour of the one-country, one-tax reform.

In a media conference call earlier today, he said: “We have set up a GST Implementation Task Force comprising of CFOs of various divisions of the automotive and tractor business. The transition to GST has been surprisingly smooth. All our suppliers have started delivering, our dealers have begun invoicing, despatches of vehicles and spare parts are also underway. What’s more, export billing has also started. It’s business as usual.”

Dr Goenka added that while it is still early days to quantify the transition loss from pre-GST to post-GST, there has been no disruption in business. Along with the process change, benefits to consumers, ease of doing business and simplification of the input value chain, there will be cascading benefits of GST, he said.

Commenting on the auto industry’s growth in the ongoing fiscal, he said: “I am positive about growth for industry overall. Along with GST reductions, if there is a reduction in interest rate of about 15-20 basis points (by RBI)), there will be further growth. The monsoon is on track and disrupters over the past few years – NGT, demonetisation, BS III and now GST – are all done now. I am looking forward to a very festive season this year.”