The government is striving to meet the GST deadline which is proposed on 1 April 2017. The implementation date for the goods and services tax is highly crucial and the Govt don’t want to extend it further as the bill has already been late, said finance minister Arun Jaitley.
Speaking at the India Summit organized by The Economist, Jaitley said the government aims to implement the GST bill as per the deadline and fulfill the challenges ahead.
Jaitley also stated further, “It is a very stiff target. We are running against time. But I would certainly like to give it a try (achieving implementation deadline of 1 April 2017).”
The 122nd Constitution amendment bill for GST has been ratified by 16 Indian states and now it is awaiting the president’s intervention. The parliament secretariat is presently collecting all the details of the proceedings of the state assemblies which will be later sent for Presidential assent. Following this, the government will be notifying the bill and constitute the GST council comprising of state finance ministers and the Union finance minister.
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This council will further decide the GST rates to be levied under the GST regime and issues related to the division of administrative control between the centre and the states.
“We have the months of September, October and part of November to finalize the laws,” Jaitley said adding that the GST rates will come later on. Jaitley assured that the GSTY rates will be confirmed putting the common man in priority and the finances of the centre.
“There are obviously some pending issues which the council will have to resolve. If we are able to successfully transcend those issues, then in the winter session, the legislations can be passed,” he added.
Jaitley has mentioned the priority to the infrastructure and improving the health of state-run banks. Speaking against the privatization of state-run banks, Jaitley said, “India still realizes that these banks have an important role to play. In a consolidated manner, they will continue in the current shape.” He indicated that IDBI bank may be the one exception where the government shareholding comes down below 50%.
On growth, Jaitley said a 7.5% growth is likely to be witnessed if things work in a better way.
“We are looking for a much better tomorrow. Domestic demand will increase. The situation will give some scope to the private sector to improve its investment,” he said.
