States inching towards a single common market through GST, says K M Mani

NEW DELHI: States are inching towards creating a single common market in the country through Goods and Services Tax ( GST), Chairman of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers K M Mani said here today.

Speaking at the conference organised by the Indirect Taxes Committee of ICAI, he said GST is a major tax reform and it should benefit the final consumer and the public without affecting resources of the states.

The Committee is in the process of discussing and arriving at consensus on large number of issues of GST, he said.

"It is a stupendous achievement that all the states with so much diversity...diverse political governance have come under the umbrella of the Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers and inching forward towards creating a single common market in the country," Mani said, who is also the Finance Minister of Kerala.

The Empowered Committee, Mani said has been called by the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha to represent its views on the GST on June 16.

The Constitutional Amendment Bill for rolling out of GST was referred to the Select Committee, while the Lok Sabha has already cleared the Bill. The Select Committee is scrutinising the bill.

He said the Committee had a very useful meeting last month in Kerala and another yesterday in Delhi.

The GST will subsume various levies like excise duty, service tax, entry tax and octroi.

Centre aims to roll-out the new indirect tax regime from April next year. States are pressing the Centre compensating fully for the loss of revenue in the first five years of GST replacing their taxes.

ICAI President Manoj Fadnis, who was also present at the conference, said the GST will integrate state economies and boost overall growth.