The committee set up by the Finance Minister on GST is looking at alternate models. The panel is of the opinion that a single GST model may not work across the country. The report may be submitted on January 21, reports CNBC-TV18’s Aakansha Sethi.
The finance minister had set up two committees for discussing the GST structure and one for discussing the CST compensation. These committees were expected to build consensus towards the implementation of GST because several states especially the BJP ruled ones are still opposed to the implementation of GST. The reports were expected to be submitted by December 31, but now this time line has been extended to the January 21.
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The important thing to be highlighted here is that the finance ministry and states feel that up till now the government was working towards a perfect GST model adopting the best practices across the globe. However, they say now that such a model will be difficult to implement and build consensus for and there is no one size that fits all in one. Hence, India specific model needs to be determined keeping in mind the diversity in the country and that there cannot be uniform rates across the country.
Thereby, a threshold is required and then a range of a plus-minus 2 which states can adhere to. They have also told the states that revenue is likely to increase by Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 crore post the implementation of GST which is one of the significant concerns of the states.
It remains to be seen what model represented in these reports because the government believes now is working towards an alternate models. The standing committee is also to submit its GST report and now the finance ministry is working towards the 2014 deadline which could be the UPA governments parting gift to the country before the elections of 2014.