Patna: Representatives of trade and industries bodies will now be invited to the state-level bankers' committee meeting so that they could put up their points regarding problems they face in procuring loans from banks.

Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi made this announcement during pre-budget consultation with representatives of trade and industries on Thursday.

"Two representatives each from Bihar Industries Association and Bihar Chamber of Commerce and Industries would be invited as observers in the next meeting of the state-level bankers' committee meeting scheduled on February 9," Modi said.

His announcement came in response to a point raised by BCCI president PK Agrawal in which he maintained that banks were reluctant in giving loans to traders and industrialists and they present one-sided views before the government in SLBC meetings in which representatives of trade and industries are not invited.

The meeting started with a brief speech by Modi in which he highlighted the sources of funds for the state and expressed concern over the dwindling number of returns having been filed after introduction of GST in July last year and also in the shortfall in revenue collection.

The participating traders, in turn, shared the problems they were facing in the wake of introduction of the new tax system and urged the finance minister to raise the issues in the next meeting of the GST council.

Alok Poddar, who heads the taxation sub-committee of BCCI, spoke about the poor functioning of GST network and also highlighted the poor functioning of the helpdesk stating that several issues raised using the help desk remained unresolved.

Rizwan Ahmed representing the Patna chapter of the Institute of Cost Accountants, demanded that provisions should be made to revise the returns filed under GST and also no penalty should be imposed on traders who have no tax liability.

Motihari Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Virendra Jalan raised the issue pertaining to the problems coming in the way of generating e-way bills, which would become compulsory for transportation of goods from February 1.

Chairman of the Patna branch of the Institute of Charted Accountants of India Mashendra Kumar Mashi raised the issue of multiple returns which the traders were meant to file under the GST regime.