Centre sees delay in GST, sets July as target for rollout instead of April
While several state finance ministers said that it may not be possible before September, sources in the government said that “the ground work is done” and once pending issues are resolved, GST can be immediately rolled out.
As the delay in rolling out the nationwide goods and services tax (GST) seems inevitable, the government is now targeting its implementation by July. Earlier, it had targeted implementation by April 1, 2017.
While several state finance ministers said that it may not be possible before September, sources in the government said that “the ground work is done” and once pending issues including the one relating to dual control are resolved, GST can be immediately rolled out. The government also has the option of putting the pending issues for voting though finance minister Arun Jaitley has underlined the need to resolve them through consensus.
“We are ready with the necessary backbone and ground work, as soon as the issues are resolved and Parliament approves the remaining bills, we will go ahead with GST,” a senior government official, who did not wish to be identified told HT. The government, however, will have to factor in the delay while estimating the collection figures of indirect tax for the next financial year.
“The finance minister must carefully do the calculation relating to collection figures (of the indirect tax) in the Union Budget,” Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic adviser of the State Bank of India group added.
Sources said that once the all powerful GST Council resolves all issues, bills relating to Central GST and Integrated GST will be taken up during the session.