Nasscom slams Gujarat move to tax e-commerce transactions

Information technology industry body Nasscom has expressed its discontent on a Gujarat government bill that seeks to levy entry tax on consumers for interstate e-commerce transactions.

In a media release, Nasscom said it believes that such a move will pose significant commercial challenges for ecommerce and logistics companies as also retailers from outside of Gujarat selling goods to customers in the state.

A similar levy is being enforced in Assam, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Himachal and is proposed to be levied in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

This tax, payable by the consumers, will be collected and deposited by entities that bring specified goods to the state from any other part of the country for consumption and sale. This levy of entry tax poses significant challenges both commercially and operationally for the e-commerce companies, logistics companies and the sellers from other states selling goods to customers in the state.

Sharing his thoughts on the issue, R Chandrashekhar, president of Nasscom, said: ''The ecommerce sector aspires to unify the country digitally into a single entity. Providing unrestricted cross border access to sellers as well as buyers is the duty of the government and is an important driver towards creating an ease of doing business. Such tax structures will lead to additional burden on SME traders, enhanced litigation, and also reduce business efficiencies. It will also restrict choice of the customer.''