GST on track for July 1 rollout: Jaitley

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is on schedule for implementation from July 1 and will not lead to any significant increase in prices of goods although cost of some services may see a marginal hike, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today.

Hailed as the biggest tax reform since India’s independence, GST will replace an array of central and state levies with a national sales tax, thereby creating a single market and making it easier to do business in the country.

Addressing CII-Kotak investors’ round table in Tokyo, Jaitley said that the GST Council, headed by him and comprising representatives of all states, will in the next few days finalise the rates of tax for different goods and services and the country is on track to roll out the simplified indirect tax regime from July 1.

“The current indirect tax structure in India is fairly complicated…those who transacted in either goods or services would have to deal with multiple authorities.