J&K set to achieve 20% growth this fiscal: Rather

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Mr. Abdul Rahim Rather has said that Jammu and Kashmir is set to achieve targeted growth of 20% during current fiscal, even it might surpass it.
Addressing a meeting of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers here, Mr. Rather said that Commercial Taxes Department of J&K has began processing of the core activities of regulation, returns and payments in the computerized mode in three pilot circles, adding 14 more circles will be put on the system to process information of 2nd quarter in the current month.
The meeting was held in the backdrop of the visit of Empowered Committee members to some European countries to share experiences about the functioning of EU in respect of tax matters, procedure for settlement of inter country disputes, work done on the Value Added Taxation, VAT and GST regimes and host of other issues, under the chairmanship of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sushil Kumar Modi.
The Minister reiterated his commitment that the department is getting prepared to roll out computerization project in the entire State by the end of current financial year, which apart from extending facilities and comfort to the dealers, is also expected to have favorable impact on revenues of the Commercial Taxes department.
Mr. Rather also dwelt in detail about the special constitutional status of the State vis-à-vis the implementation of GST in the country and protection of the financial and constitutional guarantees available to Jammu and Kashmir under its own constitution and constitution of India.
The Minister informed the Committee that he has, time and again, expressed in detail the views of Jammu and Kashmir State on the proposed constitutional amendments, clearly indicating that Jammu and Kashmir is placed differently than other States of the Union in taxation matters.
He said the state government has accordingly requested for the appropriate constitutional safeguards for protection of the financial and constitutional privileges of the State in the proposed GST regime.
The Minister concluded his speech by an advice regarding administration of the Tax Exchange Information System TINXYS in the country. He observed that all states have not been benefited by TINXYS primarily for the reasons of inadequate IT infrastructure and also due to lack of TINXYS ownership.
He said the Empowered Committee must appoint an administrator of TINXYS which could continuously assess the requirements, suggest ways and means to acquire the same and most importantly supervise and maintain TINXYS with assistance from service providers and advice of the consultants under the supervision of EC. This would, on one hand help EC to ensure proper monitoring of funds spent on the project and on the other hand benefit the states in actual use of the facility for which the project is intended, the Hon’ble Minister concluded.