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GST is taking flak for slowdown but superhero ‘GST Man’ will save Indians

GST Man comic book was published in March this year and attempted to simplify complex tax structures for the common man.

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New Delhi: A business owner relaxes on a beach, pleased to have received a text message notifying him that a sum of Rs 26 lakh had been transferred to his bank account. Soon, his gratification is pierced by approaching waves — Purchase Tax and Excise Duty — literally sweep him away from shore, entangling him in multiple tax compliances.

But then, a caped man with a rippling six-pack swoops in, saving the business owner from the overwhelmingly complicated tax structure in India. This is GST Man — ‘India’s Newest Superhero’, created by Delhi-based lawyer Srinivas Kotni last year. With a Mexican handlebar moustache and a big GST sign across his chest, Kotni’s vision of the caped crusader mirrors his own views on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, brought about by the Narendra Modi government in 2017.

The comic book, a mammoth 140 shiny-page endeavour, to “demystify the GST structure for the common man” was published in a batch of 2,000 limited-edition hardback covers in March 2019. It was fully funded by Kotni himself and carried a foreword by late finance minister Arun Jaitley.

A contrast to the masculine bravado of GST Man, Kotni is a warm, unassuming 46-year-old, who has been working as Managing Partner at the law firm LEXPort for the past two decades. “The law pays the bills,” he says laughing, “but my true passion is using visual mediums so that students can better understand and appreciate complex policies and laws.”

“We’ve shown him to have all Indian features, and like a superhero, we’ve shown him to be strong – to highlight that GST is a strong, important concept, and it’s there to make the Indian economy more vibrant,” Kotni says, pausing to add, “Eventually.”


Also read: Everyday superheroes: How the humans of India are standing up to help Kerala


A superhero in growth stage 

As the Indian economy faces one of its worst slowdowns in recent history – with job losses across sectors, a crumbling automobile industry, a tepid growth of 5% last quarter, and even a drop in underwear and biscuit sales – the Modi government’s hurried implementation of the GST has been assigned part of the blame. Even Nobel award-winning economist Abhijit Banerjee pointed to “shocks from GST” as being one in the “bunch of reasons [that] reduced the purchasing power of the low-income groups.”

Kotni, who worked tirelessly for over a year to bring GST Man to storefronts, believes the slowdown to be “cyclical”, and that “GST as a concept has merged so many indirect taxes into ‘One Nation One Tax”.

“Look, it’s a gigantic task,” he says, “to put the entire economy under the GST system — manufacturers, traders, service providers, departmental officers, chartered accountants — everyone will use it as a platform. These kinds of monumental changes take time, and of course, the teething issue is there.”

The GST Man comic book | Photo: Nandita Singh | ThePrint
The GST Man comic book | Photo: Nandita Singh | ThePrint

Kotni talks of GST Man as a fallible hero with good intentions, whose underlying principles are righteous and logical, but who, “like any human, even if they are superhuman, grows and evolves into a better version of themselves over time”.

“You think superheroes don’t go through struggles?” Kotni asks. “They become superheroes only after weathering that struggle, and emerging stronger.”


Also read: Economists call for new approach to rejuvenate agro-economy ‘hit by GST, demonetisation’


A digital future 

Kotni, with over 24 years of experience in trade law, has put a significant amount of his own money into the venture. “This isn’t for profit. You can look at it like my own personal CSR project to educate people.”

Sitting in a residential office in Delhi’s Hauz Khas Enclave, the lawyer takes out his phone. “This is what’s planned next,” he smiles looking down, taking me through a state-of-the-art mobile version of the comic book. With a voice-over, seamless transition from one comic strip to the next and a clean interface, GST Man is set to be available on your phones in the coming months.


Also read: GST collections could be the biggest headache in Modi govt’s budget


At over Rs 700 on Amazon and other e-retailers, the physical version of the hardbound comic book is unaffordable for most students today. Kotni, who says 500 of the 2,000 copies in his initial batch remain unsold, is well aware of the problem. “50 copies were bought by the GST council themselves,” he tells ThePrint. “But now we’re moving towards paperbacks to widen the reach.”

But without a budget for marketing, or an expertise in social media, the lawyer’s biggest challenge is getting the word out about his passion project. He also hopes to pick up the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) and the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) next, “in a format that is palatable”.

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