GST to roll out from July 1, Centre scotches rumours of delay

The Centre is determined to roll out the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July one although rumours are agog that the implementation of India's most significant indirect tax reform since 1947 may get delayed by a month or two.

“The rumours about GST implementation being delayed are false. Please do not be misled by it,” Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia tweeted after the news was spread on the social media of a possibility of the deadline being breached.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley too had said late last week that he saw no reason to postpone GST roll out. Jaitley's remark came after West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra had raised serious doubts over the possibility of GST roll out from July one saying that the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) was not ready to handle the large volumes of forms that would be received.

A body of small traders The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) too expressed its inability to adhere to the July one deadline saying the preparedness at the level of small businesses is one of the major challenges.

“The proposed GST taxation system is entirely based on technology where not even a single paper will be used. The basic fundamentals of raising invoices, procedure of availing input credit, integration of goods & services, compulsory rating of each entity registered under GST are some of the key issues which are entirely different from current VAT tax regime,” CAIT has said.

It said nearly 60% of small businesses in the Country have been devoid of digital technology and they cannot comply with GST from July one. “Empowerment of such large number of traders with technology in such a short span of time when only 19 days are left is quite impossible,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.