Parliament passes GST bills; govt. looking at July 1 roll out

Parliament passes GST bills; govt. looking at July 1 roll out

New Delhi: Decks have been cleared for implementation of the biggest indirect tax reform since independence, with parliamentary approval to the GST as Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed the four enabling bills for its roll out, possibly from July 1.

The long-awaited four bills : Central Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, Integrated GST Bill, Compensation GST Bill and Union Territory GST Bill 2017  were passed by the Rajya Sabha and returned to Lok Sabha, after a discussion of almost nine hours spread across two days. The Lok Sabha had passed the bills last week.

Talking to reporters after the bills were passed by parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it was a "historic day." He said it took almost 11 years to build a consensus on the roll out of GST.