GST To Create 1 Lakh More Jobs

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s electoral promise of a crore new jobs every year, remains a distant dream, the impending Goods and Services Tax (GST) could prove the genie that would create more jobs from unexpected quarters.

Since the 1 July rollout of the GST was announced, the demand for professionals who understand the GST and could help business organisations stay tax compliant has increased. The happy fallout is the inevitable increase in employment avenues for such professionals.

The implementation of the GST is likely to create about a lakh jobs immediately. “On an estimation,  it looks like it will create more than a lakh jobs in the first quarter,” says Sunil Goel, managing director of Global Hunt, a recruitment firm. “Another 50,000 to 60,000 jobs will be created for specific activities of the GST going forward in various sectors, like IT, ITES, e-commerce, and manufacturing,” he says.  

The rest of the headhunter community echoes the same thoughts. “In the next three years, jobs will be created particularly in automobiles, logistics, e-commerce, and construction. There will be an increase of about 10 per cent to 12 per cent in job creation in these sectors,” says Pankaj Bansal, CEO of human resource solution provider, PeopleStrong.

The rollout of the GST also provides tax professionals an opportunity to upgrade themselves. They either work from the user side, or they work as tax consultants for the companies. The GST will create job opportunities, as companies employ professionals for dedicated GST management, upgrading, and reconciliations. Mid and small-size companies will prefer to outsource similar activities to third party account firms.

Labour ministry statistics show that a mere 1.55 lakh jobs were created in 2015 and 2.31 lakh in 2016, the lowest since ten lakh jobs were created by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2009.India’s demographic dividend favouring the young, is a legend. India adds nearly a crore of new workers to the existing workforce, annually — roughly equal to the total population of the Czech Republic or Portugal. The availability of jobs is not even half. The number of workers seeking jobs, therefore, far outstrips the supply of jobs. In a nutshell, we have created just 2.31 percent of the total jobs required.

Now recruiters expect the GST to rev up the job market. “The job market is dull, however, it may rebound in the next six months,” says Rituparna Chakroborty, co-founder of staffing firm, TeamLease Services, adding, “The industry is betting big time on the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax, which is expected to boost businesses.”