GST Bill: Congress, BJP resume talks

The Congress and BJP seem to have set aside their political differences for now and started talking again on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) law.

In the past couple of days, Congress — accused by the BJP of holding up the Constitution Amendment Bill for GST — has had discussions with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

On Friday, Jaitley and Deputy Leader of Congress in the Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma, discussed the Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian committee report on possible GST rates. Sharma also requested the Finance Minister to share the draft GST Bill so that the Congress can discuss it internally. 

“Congress has always been in favour of GST which will create a genuine common market. All we want is that issues raised by us are answered and are acceptable to all.

“We need to go through it (Bill) carefully…it cannot be done in a hurry. We need a law which answers the concerns of both the consumers as well as the manufacturers,” Sharma told  BusinessLine .  

‘No GST-Herald link’ He dismissed any linking of GST with the controversy over the National Herald case. “We are awaiting a formal response from the BJP government on the issues raised by us,” Sharma said. “Once we receive it, the Party will take its stand, which will be communicated to the government. The discussions are ongoing.”

The week ahead is likely to see more interaction between the two political parties on the GST.

The Congress has been asking the Narendra Modi government to include the tax rates in the Constitution Amendment Bill, scrap the 1 per cent tax for manufacturing States (inter-State supply of goods), and set up a separate dispute redress mechanism.

“We hope something positive comes out of these discussions,” said Ajay Shriram, Chairman and Managing Director, DCM Shriram Ltd and former President of CII.

Industry view Simultaneously, the government is also talking with industry to get its views on the CEA report. With just eight working days remaining for the Winter session of Parliament to end, most industry leaders BusinessLine spoke to said it does not matter whether the tax regime starts from April 1 or October 1, what matters is that there is political consensus on it.

“No legislation can be fool-proof at the first instance itself till implemented. Only when tried, does one come to know what are the errors and then take corrective measures,” a senior industry leader said.  

“A feedback which we are getting is that the standard GST rate of 18 per cent is acceptable to most of the political parties,” said an industry member, who was part of the meeting called by the Finance Minister.

Meanwhile, the Centre is yet to call a meeting of the Empowered Group of State Finance Ministers that will take the final call on the GST rates as well as the draft law.

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