In yet another positive news coming out due to GST regime, India’s largest online shopping platforms: Flipkart and Amazon have decided to resume their big ticket order delivery in UP and Bihar, along with some portions of Gujarat.

Hence, online shoppers from UP and Bihar would be able to order products costing more than Rs 5000 from these portals.

A statement from Flipkart confirmed this: “With GST coming in, markets of UP, Bihar and some parts of Gujarat will now be serviced, where orders were virtually nothing, We intend to increase our share in these markets which make up close to 13-15% of the total Indian market.”

Amazon India hasn’t responded yet.

GST Creating Level Playing Field For All

In 2015, UP Govt. introduced a special, weird rule for all eCommerce transactions, which was described as draconian, to say the least.

As per this law, any citizen ordering any online product above Rs 5000 was required to file a VAT declaration. Besides, the online shopper was also required to mention the vehicle number which brought in the goods ordered online.

This prompted Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and others to completely stop delivering orders more than Rs 5000.

Such ridiculous laws forced online portals to stop accepting orders from UP, and this triggered massive losses for these eCommerce companies, as a majority of online orders are still coming in from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

Similarly, Bihar Govt. had imposed a special ‘Entry Tax’ on all eCommerce orders, which forced the eCommerce portals to reduce accepting orders. Although Patna HC has termed this special tax as illegal, due to confusion regarding eCommerce industry, the doubt persisted, harming the entire industry.

Similar woes were reported from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttrakhand as well.

But now, under GST, eCommerce portals can breathe easy, as the cap on TDS has been set at 1%, which is applicable to entire India.

Flipkart said, “Different tax structures in different states are now being eliminated with the implementation of GST. This is a welcome move and will definitely boost sales across India.”

GST Network Receives 10,000 Calls Per Day

In a related GST news, GST Network Chairman Navin Kumar has said that the call centre established by them to resolve GST issues is receiving more than 10,000 calls a day from traders, businesses and common man.

He said, “Our call centre executives are answering all queries and helping all to get used to GST. This call centre is operating from Noida and team of around 400 executives is handling those calls,”

Besides, GSTN is aiming to increase the number of GSPs (GST Suvidha Provider) from 34 right now. Around 80 applications have been received till date by GSTN, by potential service providers wanting to become GSPs.

We will keep you updated as we receive more GST related news.