New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee
on Wednesday kept his fingers crossed over introducing goods and
services tax from April 2010.
"We are trying (to bring in GST) let us see," Mukherjee
told reporters when asked when GST would be implemented.
Inaugurating a meeting of finance secretaries and finance
commissions of states, the minister said he will conduct a
meeting with state finance ministers over GST in early
November.
He said Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State
Finance Ministers Asim Dasgupta holds interaction with state
finance ministers over the issue of GST.
GST is scheduled to be introduced from April 1, 2010 but
some states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh are demanding that
implementation of GST should be delayed.
The proposed indirect tax regime would replace most of
the indirect tax levied by the Centre like excise and service
tax and subsume state-levied taxes like VAT and local taxes
like octroi and purchase tax.
When asked whether states have demanded power to borrow
more from the market, Mukherjee said they have already been
given power to garner money from the market even if their
fiscal deficits are stretched by an additional 0.5 per cent of
their states' GDP.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 12:52