Belagavi: The ‘One Nation One Tax’ regime through the Goods and Services Tax (GST) system would come into effect on April 1, 2017, leading to a unified domestic market, said Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday, October 3.
Sitharaman who was speaking at the inaugural event of the two-day Karnataka State BJP Executive Committee took a dig at the previous UPA government for not taking a decision on the GST that was introduced as the 115th Constitution Amendment Bill even though the then Finance Minister announced in 2006-07 that GST would be rolled out by 2010.
“Kelkar Committee on GST was set up by the NDA government in 2003. Hope, the GST Bill would be passed soon, paving the way for making certain arrangements so that GST became a reality from April 1, 2017 onwards,” she said.
Sitharaman further said that the GST would be imposed at the consumer-end, and would be shared by both the Centre and States. There would be no duplication or overlapping of taxes. No transaction would go unnoticed and the black money in trade and industry would be contained. With the GST coming into effect, the GDP could cross nine per cent, she said.
