SAP to empower Corporate India in the GST regime

SAP SE has announced that SAP India will be an Application Service Provider (ASP) for the upcoming Goods and Service Tax (GST) implementation in the country. The announcement was made at the recently-held flagship event “SAP GST India Forum 2016” in New Delhi that was attended by over 1,500 businesses. The event provided a platform to collaborate, exchange learnings and discuss enablement, impact as well as development strategies regarding the successful roll-out of GST. 

“SAP has a well-defined technology roadmap to simplify GST for businesses. This forum is created to ensure we equip them with knowledge to continue their operations in the GST regime,” said Arun Subramanian, Vice-President, Globalization Services, SAP Labs India.

GST is expected to play a significant role in opening up the industry to smaller businesses and offer them equal opportunities to compete and excel using a “one-nation, one-tax” approach. Technology will drive this shift as it is expected to influence all the core processes of businesses across sectors.

SAP India has categorized business impact under five key pillars:

1.     Enhanced Digital Experience: With GST, enterprises have an opportunity to go digital and focus on delivering better customer experiences. The change to a digital core-system is imperative for success in the GST regime and businesses will have new agile models of sourcing and delivery through a better supply chain.

2.     Free up Working Capital: As GST will reduce logistics cost by almost 20% (according to a study by CARE), the organizations will have access to more working capital that they can invest in broader growth and expansion plans.

3.     Level-playing Field: GST unifies taxation across the country and reduces barriers for enterprises across markets. This leads to a more evolved business environment that allows for enterprises to compete equally.

4.     Bigger Play for SMEs: The reduction in operational cost will enable the usually cash-strapped SMEs to relook at their business prospects and reinvest in growth.

5.     Personalization and Real-Time Pricing Strategy: Digital opens up avenues of analytical tools for organizations that can enable them to tailor their pricing strategy as per real-time demands in markets across country.

SAP is taking a lead in creating and raising awareness on this transition for their vast network of customers. “We are in the final phase of making corporates GST ready,” said Neeraj Athalye, Head of SAP S/4HANA, SAP Indian Subcontinent. “Only best-in-class technology can ensure a smooth transition to GST. We are directing all our efforts towards ensuring that businesses are equipped for this turnaround.”