Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said that the national transporter wants to be treated as a unified entity under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to allow it seek single-point registration.
"We have given a wish-list before the GST Council, in which one of the demands is to treat us as a unified entity. It is upon the Council to take a call on our request now," Prabhu told Business Standard. Railways had also demanded exemption from taxes for its internal supplies. When asked about the overall impact of GST on railways, he said that a committee has been set up to study this and it is likely to come out with a report soon.
If GST is rolled out in its current form, Railways will have to register each of its 17 zones, or 73 divisions, in various states and will have to pay integrated GST for its own product movements, like coaches, and other materials, like tracks, for internal consumption. This is the reason why the national transporter is demanding a unified entity status. Moreover, both input and output services of Railways are likely to become costlier after the July 1 GST rollout.
Prabhu said this after dedicating the 12.8-kilometre (Km) new line from Bolagarh Road to Nayagarh as part of the ongoing Khurda Road-Balangir project. The new line is likely to give a fresh lease of life to a stuck 289-Km railway line project between Khurda Road to Balangir Road, which is expected to cost about Rs 3,000 crore.