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GST Bill crucial for Start-Up India, Digital India success: IAMAI
MUMBAI: Industry body – Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has urged the Parliament to pass the crucial GST (Goods & Services Tax) Bill in the forthcoming budget session. The industry body has said that the smooth passage of GST Bill is crucial for the success of mega economic and social projects, especially Digital India and Start-Up India.
The GST Bill, which subsumes all indirect taxes to create one rate and integrate the country into a single market, is the biggest tax reform that is being undertaken since Independence, but is pending approval of the Rajya Sabha.
The Digital India plan is about connecting, empowering and enabling citizens and encouraging local electronic manufacturing. Similarly, Start-Up India is focused on promoting entrepreneurship, and through small entrepreneurs, generating employment.
Local manufacturing, NoFN, e-Gov, as a part of Digital India, where private sector is involved, crucially rests on the successful passage of GST Bill in Parliament, which seeks to create one market through one tax system. Similarly, start-ups, online market places, and other online service providers, all require a single market plan.
IAMAI president Subho Ray said, “The extant tax structure of India is heavily fragmented, with multiple indirect taxes levied by different authorities at different stages of a transaction. Fiscal federalism has led to different procedures and rates of VAT and other forms of LBTs across the states. This creates logistical challenges for the industry, besides giving rise to compliance related complications. Conflict of interests between tax authorities in case of inter-state transaction is a major pain point for the industry today. GST will help the digital industry business model flourish by providing uniformity in tax rates and regulations across the country. This will help doing business in India easier, allow free-play to market dynamics and allow deeper penetration of these services.”
Given that much of the developments in the digital industry are disruptive innovations, business models like online platforms, aggregators, etc are essentially services provided by intermediaries. Such services are revolutionising the existing markets of both goods and services. Thus, online ticketing services or e-tailing are providing newer modes of access for consumers to existing goods and services, said IAMAI.
The digital industry unequivocally stands for the smooth passage of GST and hopes that the bill will be passed in the upcoming budget session, as any further delay will push back the transformative projects of the government.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
