Hard to predict timeline for GST roll out, says Jayant Sinha

New Delhi: Government on Wednesday said it is "hard to predict" the timeline for the roll out of indirect tax reform, Goods and Services tax (GST), as it mainly depends on the legislative procedure.

"It is the legislative calendar, which is the getting factor. So when is it that the GST bill can be tabled in Parliament? When the states will do what they need to do... it is very hard to predict right now how soon that will happen," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha told reporters here.

The government was hoping to rollout the GST from April 1, but the Constitution Amendment Bill is stuck in Rajya Sabha as it could not be taken up for discussion in the Winter Session of Parliament, which concluded today.

He was replying to a question on what could be the revised date for GST implementation.

"GST is a transaction tax and it can be put in place overnight. Administratively, we are ready to go for April 1,2016. If indeed the Constitution Amendment Bill is passed in the Budget session, we will have see, how legislative calendar then develops," he said.

GST being a constitution amendment bill, it has to be passed by two third majority in both the houses of Parliament and at least by 50 per cent of state legislatures.

The new tax regime is touted as the biggest reform in the indirect taxation since independence and would subsume levies like excise, service tax, and other local levies.

Sinha said the Winter Session of Parliament has been "very disappointing" as the expectation of the government was to pass the GST constitution amendment bill.

"There was a very broad consensus across all parties. Unfortunately, the Congress party has decided it wants to wreck the Indian economy... We are all paying the price for that and the collateral damage is very enormous," he said.

Sinha said the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2015, which seeks to provide an easy exit option for insolvent and sick companies, has been referred to a 30-member Joint Select Committee of the members of Parliament for further scrutiny.

He said there was delay in many legislations because after approval of a Bill by the Standing Committee of Parliament, Rajya Sabha would again send it to another Committee.

In order to expedite the process, bankruptcy code has been referred to a a joint select committee so that there could be a combined report taking into account the suggestions and inputs from members of both houses.

"With joint committee's report in hand by the end of the first leg of the budget session...our expectation would be to get the Bankruptcy Bill passed (in the second leg of the budget session)," Sinha added.

He said the government is hopeful that both the GST aswell as bankruptcy code would be passed in the Budget session.

"If all parties work together to think about the interest of the nation, rather than pursuing their vested interest, then we will be in a situation where we will be able to give double booster shot to the economy with GST Constitution Amendment passed as well as Bankruptcy," Sinha said.

He said the solutions offered by the government on Congress objections to GST bill are "very reasonable". "Any party that sees merit in logical argument would very quickly accept what we are suggesting as solution. If we have a meeting with the minds of opposition on substance and not on politics, then I don't see any reason why the Constitution Amendment cannot be passed in the budget session," he said.

The Congress has been opposing the GST Constitution Amendment Bill on three grounds. They want the GST rate to be prescribed in the bill, to which the government says tax rates cannot be 'cast in stone'.

The Congress has also been demanding for scrapping of 1 per cent additional tax for inter-state movement of goods and services, which the government has hinted at agreeing to.

Congress has also suggested a Supreme Court adjudicating disputes between states. The bill proposes GST Council to settle disputes and if it is not addressed even there, then the council itself will prepare a redressal mechanism.

Talking about the fiscal consolidation, Sinha said the government is committed to the roadmap. The government proposes to lower fiscal deficit to 3.9 per cent in current fiscal and further to 3.5 per cent in 2016-17. Deficit was 4per cent in last fiscal.

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