Showing clear intent in reforming India's indirect tax regime within a time frame, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Monday said the government is making efforts to bring in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill in the ongoing winter session of parliament."We will try and introduce the GST (Goods and Services Tax) Bill in this session. The GST Bill would be taken up by the cabinet after the Empowered Committee (of state finance ministers) meeting on December 12," Jaitley said at an event here. The Empowered Committee met here last month and expressed the hope that the new tax regime could be implemented by the proposed date - April 1, 2016 - notwithstanding their differences with the central government over some key provisions.
The central government has written to the committee suggesting that the threshold annual turnover for levying the GST should be increased to Rs.25 lakh (Rs.2.5 million) from Rs.10 lakh (Rs.one million).The committee in August resolved to lower the threshold limit for imposing the GST on companies from a turnover of Rs.25 lakh to Rs.10 lakh.States have been also been asking for petroleum, alcohol and tobacco should be kept out of the purview of GST. Seen as a key to facilitating industrial growth and improving the business climate in the country, the GST bill needs to be passed by a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament and by the legislatures of half of the 29 states to become a law.The government plans to implement GST from April 1, 2016.