Bipin Sapra, Partner – Indirect Tax & Regulatory Services at Ernst & Young India believes that the government should explore the idea of zero tax-rate for the education sector under the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Sapra says the education sector benefits from lot of exemptions, which are likely to continue under the GST. However, there is a possibility that the taxes paid on input and input services, which currently amounts to 6-7 percent, could increase under GST, he adds.

“In case of GST, if the final fee in most cases is 18 percent, then the cost which gets inbuilt into the whole system would be almost 8-9 percent,” Sapra says, adding If education services continue to be exempt then cost of providing the services is going to go up.