Minister for Finance, Labour & Employment, Dr Haseeb A Drabu, today said the State Government is formulating a comprehensive incentive structure under Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime which will benefit local industries and local customers while tackling the scourge of corruption.The Finance Minister was chairing a meeting at his office chambers here to discuss the incentive structure to be extended to the industries in J&K under GST regime. He said the new incentive structure will protect the local industry and benefit local customers.The meeting was also attended by Principal Secretary, Finance, Navin Choudhary, Commissioner Secretary, Labour and Employment, Kifayat Hussain Rizvi, Commissioner Sales Tax, Parvaiz Iqbal Khateeb and other officers of the concerned departments."Major industries we want to promote which have good potential in the state should be identified. The focus of industries should be on strengthening the economy through employment generation and other value addition measures," Dr Drabu said.He said the State Government, under Chief Minister Ms Mehbooba Mufti, is committed to incentivize the industries but the tax and fiscal incentives should also be given in such a manner that it promotes greater employment and higher value addition.
He also directed the Labour and Employment department to compile comprehensive data on the industries and the employment generated by them."There should be a balance between incentives given and infrastructure provided. The greater an industry contributes to value addition in economy, the larger share in incentives it should have. We are working on an incentive structure which should make the life better for the producers and consumers. Subsidy (given to various industries) should also translate into reduced prices," he said.The Finance Minister said the reforms in economy via Goods and Service Tax regime has provided an opportunity to the governments across the country to clean up the system. "For the first time in our history, the GST regime has given us an opportunity to clean up the system and address the scourge of corruption," he said.Dr Drabu said the State Government is committed to protect the interests of the trade and to address all the concerns raised by various traders' bodies over the extension of Goods and Services Tax regime to J&K which, he said, will infuse transparency in the system and take care of concerns over tax evasion.