The Central GST Department has decided to adopt an AI-based app, which was developed by the Digital University of Kerala (DUK) for the state GST Department to promote tax compliance, for an all-India roll out.
The model of Lucky Bill app, “Mera Bill-Mera Adhikar Yojana”, would be launched on a pilot basis in the states of Haryana, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, and UTs of Puducherry and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, according to the DUK.
DUK Vice-Chancellor Dr Saji Gopinath said the university is excited that the pioneering concept of the Lucky Bill app developed for the Kerala GST Department is going to be adopted by all states in the country.
The Lucky Bill app, which ensures tax compliance among people and promotes transparency in financial transactions, has won the national award for e-governance at the ongoing 26th national conference on e-governance in Indore. It is a pioneering initiative introduced to promote an ‘ask for bills’ culture among consumers, which helped the state GST department in increasing tax collection.
The app was launched in Kerala in August 2022 to prevent tax evasion. It helped the State GST Department to look into the returns filed by the traders. The State GST department had also announced prizes for consumers who upload bills of their purchases in the app, thereby encouraging consumers to seek bills of their purchase.
According to project co-ordinator Prof Sanil P Nair, as many as 1700000 bills have been uploaded to the system so far with 125000-odd registered users. Several violations were detected with the help of the app. After the introduction of the app, Kerala recorded a 26 per cent increase in GST collection in June, 2023, compared to the corresponding period last year.
