To ensure that the country does not get a flawed Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has once again reached out to the Congress Party asking it to re-consider its suggestions on the model of the GST.

“It would be unfair to the country to impose in the name of compromise, a defective GST. I will expect the party which ruled India for nearly half a century to reconsider some of the suggestions,” he said at an Assocham event, adding that he is willing to discuss their concerns with them.

“Some of their suggestions are not in the larger interest of GST,” he said. The Winter Session of Parliament that starts on November 26 is crucial as the government needs to get the Constitutional Amendment Bill for GST passed in order to roll it out from April 2016.

Terming the proposal to include GST tariff rates within the Constitutional Amendment Bill as a “fraud architecture”, Jaitley said that proposals including those on the voting powers in the GST Council also need to be reviewed.

Budget preparation Meanwhile as preparations are underway for the Union Budget 2016-17, the Finance Minister also underlined fiscal challenges before the government and the consequent need to enhance revenues. “I look at the pressures next year, including striking fiscal discipline, satisfying demands for one rank one pension, burden of the Seventh Pay Commission and our commitments to infrastructure and irrigation and continuing to invest in the social sector,” he said.

Jaitley also underlined geo-political challenges arising from recent attacks by the Islamic State and said it would impact global economy and spending on poverty eradication and investments.

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