Mr. Satya Prabhakar, Founder and CEO, Sulekha, said:
GST is a game-changing move for millions of SMB’s, since thousands of them work in the unorganized sector. The Modi Government has proactively thought of innovative steps to help SMBs adapt to GST by proposing a low tax rate of just 0.5-2% if the business turnover is less than Rs 75 lakhs p.a.
Our interaction with Sulekha’s thousands of SMB customers shows that most of them are looking forward to reduced cost of operations and significant ease of operations, compared to the prior service tax/VAT regime. For instance the service tax on advertising charged by Sulekha on its customers couldn’t be taken advantage of several SMB customers in the past – particularly if they were traders who were charging VAT.
The new GST regime allows SMB customers to easily take input credit on multiple services and products consumed by them – and pass on the benefits to end-consumers.
Meanwhile Sulekha is also witnessing a strong 20-25% higher-than-normal sales growth rate in the months of Jun-2017 in it sales, as some customers are taking advantage of the lower service tax rate of 15% that is valid till Jun 30th. The company however expects SMB customers to consume greater portion of targeted online advertising from Aug-2017, once customers fully adapt themselves to the new systems and processes entailed by GST.
