Impact of GST on Automobile Sector with Special Reference to Hybrid and Electric Cars in India

Abstract

India is one of the biggest automobile manufacturer in the world and this sector has been a major contributor to the Indian economy in terms of GDP and employment generation. With Automobile mission plan 2026 in place, it is expected to grow up to $ 260 -300 billion and to bring about 65 million jobs. With exception of few, most of the good and services came under the Goods and Services Tax influence so does the automobile sector. GST is a taxation system which replaces all indirect taxes such as VAT, Excise and Service Tax etc. It’s a comprehensive, multi-stage, destination based tax that is levied on every value addition.In this exercise government has kept different types of cars in to different slabs of GST. With the rate of tax on some classifications manufacturers are happy and welcoming the decision but not so satisfied with others. To curb the pollution from automobiles and to promote green motoring, Government of Indiahas been granting incentives on manufacture and sale of all types of electric vehicles including two and three wheelers and also plans to ban sale of all fossil fuel run cars by 2030. Hybrid cars have been kept into highest slab with luxury segment of cars whereas prior to implementation of Goods & Service Tax hybrid cars also attracted incentives from government under Faster Adoption and Manufacture of (Hybrid&) Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme. Manufacturers are disappointed with this change. The objective of this paper is to study the impact of GST on automobile sector in particular the effect it has on hybrid & electric cars in India.

Keywords: GST, Automobiles, Electric Vehicles, Hybrid Vehicles, Green Mobility.

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