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| CCI, Retailers' Federation rue malafides, tax pilferage | | Best Price: Not Quite The Best Bet? | | Abodh Sharma
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 2: At a time when the state of Jammu and Kashmir is passing through unprecedented financial crisis, alleged loss of revenue to the State Government in form of Value Added Tax (VAT) and Sales Tax by Best Price Modern Wholesale store has been raised by several representative bodies of business and trade in the state, but to little avail.
Bharti Walmart, the joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Walmart Stores Inc for wholesale, business-to-business, cash-and-carry operations in India, opened its first Best Price Modern Wholesale cash and-carry store in Jammu on November 9, 2011. Since then, its policies with regards to grant of membership and operations have been objected to repeatedly, by various organizations, but no cognizance of these concerns has been taken by the Government.
Sources say that the Best Price, which entered J&K supporting a mission of enabling small businesses to prosper, by offering membership to small kiryana shop owners, Government and private organizations, hotels and restaurants which made bulk purchases; offered unchecked membership to individuals and ineligible business organizations which indulged in pilferage of VAT and Sales Tax by making purchases through Best Price. "A business unit which was registered to trade in a particular commodity and availed tax sops from the government for the same, illegally started trade in other commodities making purchases from Best Price, in the process inflicting losses to public exchequer" said a former Executive member of the Jammu Chamber of Commerce. "The mal practice was brought to the notice of Ministry of Finance, but no corrective action was taken because former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had inaugurated the venture in Jammu and he had personal equation with the owners" he added.
Yashpal Gupta, president of the Retailers Federation said that Government was losing huge tax component on second purchase that Best Price was indulging in. "They are doing retail in the garb of wholesale and even the legitimate shopkeepers making purchases from Best Price do not pay taxes which they would have paid otherwise, resulting into close to 70 percent pilferage of taxes" he averred.
Rakesh Gupta, president Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry expressed his concern over the procedure of granting membership followed by Best Price. "They were licensed for wholesale billing, but by flouting guidelines of granting membership, they have made it a retail outlet" Said Gupta. "We have given a representation to the Commissioner Commercial taxes to look into the matter" he added.
At the time of inauguration of this store in Jammu, Rajan Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Walmart had stated that the opening of this store will add value to the economy of the State and will also source products locally besides creating direct and indirect employment opportunities for over 600 people. He also asserted that opening of store in Jammu would provide momentum to the local industry, but many believe that four years since its inception, the initiative has merely manufactured losses for local wholesale business and the state exchequer, while the owners made huge profits. |
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