GST deadline may not be met, says Arun Jaitley
The FM said that he wants the GST to be implemented from April next year
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-09-10 02:22 GMT
New Delhi: The finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday the government will not “go soft” on bringing blackmoney back into the formal system. This even as he rejected any charge of tax terrorism on corporates and said that all legacy tax issues are getting resolved. The FM said that he wants the GST to be implemented from April next year, but warned that it may get delayed by sometime if Congress continues to obstruct it.
He said consolidation of weaker state-run banks with stronger ones will be the next step if some of the lenders continue to remain fragile despite steps to strengthen them. “The Congress party says — I will only shout down... I would like to see it being implemented by April 1, but if this kind of obstructionism remains, perhaps the Congress party will succeed in hurting Indian economy and derail the GST for sometime,” said Mr Jaitley during a conference organised by The Economist.
He pointed out that if the number of parties which supported the GST bill in Lok Sabha are tallied, the government had “two-third” majority support in Rajya Sabha as well. The FM said the composition of Upper House would change after the next bi-annual election.