PM reviews GST roll-out preparations, says it will be turning point for economy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday reviewed the status of GST, which is scheduled to be implemented from 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, Prime Ministers Office and the Cabinet Secretary. The review meeting was the first by the Prime Minister after the final rate fixation of goods on May 2,

In the course of the meeting, the Prime Minister 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 phone [phone] has also been activated for this purpose.