India’s GST implementation: Golden opportunity for fintech software companies to capitalize


The Goods and Services Tax (GST), India's biggest indirect tax reform, is here, bringing in radical tax reforms that affect everyone, particularly Indian businesses no matter what their size is. Big corporates will be as affected as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups—the backbone of the Indian economy. India has 36 million SMEs and, globally, the country has 3,100 startups—one of the highest. All businesses will be affected. So, the change is drastic and the canvas huge. The GST Network (GSTN) would throw up around 5 billion invoices a month. Add to that the 50 million enterprises in India, along with 15 million retailers that have to go for digitization of sales.
No wonder, fintech companies are going all out to woo customers and clients. Companies including SAP, Microsoft, Zoho, Tally, Deskera and ClearTax have jumped on to the GST bandwagon and are luring enterprises and startups with GST-compliant platforms and software. They claim this will help businesses streamline processes with respect to the GST compliance requirements. From tackling new GST invoice requirements to input tax computation to the destination criteria: fintech companies are claiming to resolve all such GST software provisions. 
“Right now Indian market is huge, a lot of players can co-exist. We are definitely looking to tap it. With the coming of GST, there will be a transformation in the way businesses work. There may be initial hiccups; however, we are here to help enterprises cope with GST compliance and make them GST ready. We have done this in the past, for example, in GST-implementing countries such as Singapore and Malaysia,” says a fintech company official.

Huge opportunity for fintech companies in Indian market

Indian enterprises have generally been shy of adopting technology till now. However, with the coming of the GST they will be forced to go for automation and software tools. And fintech companies are aware of it. A recent report by Confianzys, a consulting firm, pointed out that a majority of SMEs were still not aware of the benefits of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. Although the scale of operation or nature of management may not necessitate ERP implementation, companies need to start looking for such tools quickly.
“Software penetration in India is low overall. What they don’t realize is that modern tools can help enterprises make their businesses simpler, more user-friendly and automated. Operational efficiency will increase and business processes can get streamlined,” adds the official while talking about the functionalities of Deskera’s ERP Cloud.
With GST implementation, automation of accounting processes becomes imminent. And fintech enterprises and companies want to make as much hay as possible till the sun shines—and that is not going to end any time soon.
Author Bio: I am a writer, editor, columnist, technology evangelist, tech blogger, film critic, theater activist, journalist, but basically a storyteller and blogger at heart. I write on social issues, startups, SMEs, technology, environment, economy, women empowerment, and arts and culture. I am also a theater activist. Music, theater, films are my passions. Please visit my blogs https://muqbilahmarwordpress.wordpress.com/  and http://muqbilahmar.blogspot.in/ and invite bloggers, writers,  technology evangelists, and others to connect with me on Twitter @muqbil_ahmar, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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