Guwahati, Feb. 22: Assam additional chief secretary, industries and commerce, Ravi Capoor, has urged the industry associations in the state to create awareness among people in the districts and villages about goods and services tax (GST), which he described as an "all-encompassing tax", at a seminar here today.

The seminar was organised by MSME Development Institute, Guwahati, in association with the Federation of Industry and Commerce of North Eastern Region (Finer) on the implementation and application of GST.

The participants in the seminar included Finer president Pabitra Buragohain, Assam commissioner of taxes Anurag Goel, MSME assistant director D.S. Mukhopadhyay and advocate and expert on indirect taxes from Mumbai, Shailesh P. Seth.

Capoor asked the MSME department to engage master trainers so that traders in the remote blocks are aware of GST. He mulled exempting bamboo products from the ambit of GST.

"The outreach has to be done with the help of the industry," he said.

Goel termed GST as a "path-breaking reform" and asked dealers to activate their GST accounts by March 15 in order to be registered under the regime on time.

In the technical session, Seth said, "Assam was the first state to ratify the GST bill. The country is entering uncharted waters in matters of taxation. The tax structure is extremely complicated. Matters will improve as the GST has advantages like integration of prevailing indirect taxes, simple and rational tax structure with simplified compliance norms."