Modi says GST will be turning point for economy

Twitter handle to answer doubts set up

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday reviewed the status of GST preparedness ahead of its scheduled launch on July 1 and asked officials to pay maximum attention to cyber-security in IT systems concerned with GST.

The meeting, which lasted for over two and a half hours, was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, and top-most officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and the Cabinet Secretary.

The review meeting was the first by the prime minister after the final rate fixation of goods on June 3.

In the course of the meeting, Modi oversaw the aspects of implementation such as IT readiness, HR readiness, training and sensitisation of officers, query handling mechanism, and monitoring, a PMO statement said.

The prime minister was informed that GST systems such as IT infrastructure, training of officials, integration with banks, and enrolment of existing taxpayers will be in readiness well in time for the July 1 implementation date. Information security systems were also discussed in detail.

A Twitter handle — @askGst_GOI — has been started for real-time answering of queries. An all-India toll free number 1800-1200-232 has also been activated for this purpose.  The GST Council had on June 3 set a tax rate of 3% on gold and gold jewellery under the upcoming GST regime. It also set a rate of 0.25% for rough diamonds. The rate on footwear below Rs 500 was set at 5%, and at 18% for the rest. The GST rate for apparel below Rs 1,000 was set at 5%, for the rest, it would be 12%. The GST Network has expressed full confidence on infrastructure readiness.
The government will also set up an anti-profiteering council to ensure that benefit of lower tax rates are passed onto the consumers.