Panaji rrTejasavi Pai, vice-president, Chowgule Industries (dealers of Maruti Suzuki), said, “We have started selling again from July 4 onwards. We didn’t do invoicing for a few days, as the format of invoicing is totally different for GST and the systems were getting upgraded for it.” rGST has subsumed almost all taxes applicable to automobiles, apart from road-tax. This means taxes like excise duty, VAT and octroi have all been absorbed by GST. rVinay Kunkolienkar from Goa Rajee (dealers of Honda), said, “We had to stop sales only for a day, as software had to be updated for GST. We resumed selling from July 3.” rPrices of automobiles too have changed marginally post GST. In the case of two-wheelers, however, the change is not significant, as Kunkolienkar informed, “Honda Activa has become cheaper by about Rs 50 post GST. The tax burden has come down on the vehicle. But, tax on insurance has gone up from 15% to 18% now. So, overall reduction in price is low.” rHyundai dealers also had to stop sales for a while, as they are connected to manufacturer’s global management system, which was getting upgraded to GST. rPrashant Joshi, owner of a Hyundai dealership, said, “We will start sales again from July 7, as Hyundai has informed us about the new prices.” rAlthough sales didn’t take place for a few days, but the dealers don’t expect much impact of that on overall sales. This is because customers, who couldn’t make a purchase on those few days, can buy now.
Auto dealers resume sales after GST pause
The automobile dealers in Goa have resumed selling cars and two-wheelers after they had to stop invoicing for few days due to issues related to Goods-and-Services-Tax (GST). For few days from July 1, car and bike dealers had to stop sales, as their systems were getting upgraded for GST. rnThe dealers were also waiting for revised price list from automobile manufacturers, which had also made it difficult to sell. All that is over now and auto sales are on.
