Union Cabinet Approves Goods And Services Tax

The Union Cabinet has given its nod to the Goods and Services Tax Amendment (GST) Bill, which is now likely to be introduced in the ongoing Winter session of the Parliament. GST is meant to bring about path-breaking reforms in the indirect tax system.

The Narendra Modi-led government is keen to implement GST in the next financial year in a bid to accelerate economic growth. The Cabinet took up the revised Constitutional Amendment Bill after the Centre and state governments arrived at a broad consensus earlier this week. The issue of taxation on petroleum products had been holding up the much-needed reform measure for almost seven years. The Centre has decided to keep petroleum products out of GST for the time being.

According to some estimates, GST is likely to contribute two percentage points to India’s GDP growth. It was originally meant to be implemented on April 1, 2010.