With the opposition insisting that the GST bill be sent to a select committee, CNBC-TV18’ Sapna Das caught up with Jayant Sinha, minister of state for finance, to discuss the tax reform.
Excerpts from the conversation.
Q: When will the select panel, if the GST bill is referred to it, submit its report?
A: Select panels are always time-bound but we have said over and over again that our goal is to be able to implement it on April 1, 2016. On one hand we want there to be a durable national consensus on the goods and services tax (GST), it is a very far reaching tax reform. In some ways the most important and significant tax reform since independence in particularly as far as indirect taxes are concerned. So, it is important to build that national consensus.
On the other hand we also want it expedited and implemented as quickly as possible because as we all know, the benefits to our economy, to our people, to our consumers are very significant. So, we have to balance both those two considerations, building the consensus while at the same time ensuring that the benefits are available to our businesses and to our consumers as quickly as possible.
Q: Are we still confident on the timeline or that is a smaller issue?
A: We are working very hard towards that timeline.
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