Indian GST system among most complex globally: WB

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ The Indian Goods and Services Tax (GST) system is among the most complex in the world with not only one of the highest tax rates but also one of the largest number of tax slabs, the World Bank has said. It added that India has the highest standard GST rate in Asia, and second highest in the world after Chile.

“The tax rates in the Indian GST system are among the highest in the world. The highest GST rate in India, while only applying to a subset of goods and services traded, is 28 per cent, which is the second highest among a sample of 115 countries which have a GST (VAT) system and for which data is available,” the World Bank said in a report.

What makes the Indian GST system even more complex is the number of different GST rates applicable on different categories of goods and services. India currently has four non-zero rates: 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. Apart from that, several items are taxed at zero per cent while gold is taxed at 3 per cent. To make things worse, petroleum products, power and real estate have been kept outside the GST ambit.