Arun Jaitley says GST will not be inflationary; tax on goods will go down

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) won’t have inflationary impact and even if it does, it will be a transient one.

Speaking at the investors’ roundtable organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Jaitley said the tax on goods may actually go down.

He termed the present Indian indirect tax structure as “fairly complicated”.

"I don't anticipate this to happen significantly. If at all, this maybe a transient impact...This would even in the long run bent down inflation and tax rates a little," he said.

In the past, countries like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have seen one-time increase in inflation post GST implementation, which normalized in a year.

"As far as services is concerned, obviously they will go up marginally and therefore, there will be some impact on this. So, goods and services may react a little differently," Jaitley said.

The finance minister chaired GST council is scheduled to finalise and approve the rates of different commodities and services on May 18-19.