GST Council meeting will be held today

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will chair the third General Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting beginning today to develop a consensus for a single rate, along with the duration of support that states will get from Center. 

The GST Council, that has a representative from each state and Union Territory will deliberate for next two days, the modalities to achieve these major objectives. The council is helped by a team of senior bureaucrats, academicians and economists. 

‘’Most of the issues are if one can say in the last leg of discussion. States have genuine concerns and will have to be addressed for the success of GST,’’ a senior official in Finance Ministry said.GST will become effective from April 1, 2017. 

State Governments will look to bargain for compensation for more number of years. ‘’ There are political compulsions that



continue to play over economic decisions,’’  says Girija Nanda, director Center for Market Research and Social Development. 

Small traders in the states are still a worried lot. Despite efforts taken by the Centre to educate the stakeholders, especially the small and medium businesses, the lack of clarity on the rate cut and the modalities. “We need clarity on how the differential rates for the e-commerce firms will be levied. It has a direct impact on retail businesses like ours,’’ Jitender Gupta a Delhi-based Small and Medium Business entrepreneur. 

The GST Council will look into these and many other similar concerns of businesses that will be impacted, by the introduction of GST. "The positive is that majority of the states are on the table for discussion. It gives a hope that the consensus will emerge soon," says the Finance Ministry official.