MANU/PIBU/1027/2016

Department/Board : Press Information Bureau

Date : 14.12.2016

Report Card on GST Implementation

As compared to the time taken in arriving at a consensus on the Constitutional Amendment Bill for GST, the subsequent events after the passing of the Bill indicate that the Government of India and the States have done remarkably well in taking all necessary steps for implementation of GST. The Report Card below indicates that Government of India lost no time in implementing the GST so far:

As soon as the President's assent was received on the Constitutional Amendment Act for GST on 8th September, 2016, the GST Council was created by the Cabinet within a period of one week along with the Secretariat. Under Article 279A of the Constitution, the GST Council has been entrusted with the power to make recommendations to the Union and the States on various GST related issues, including those relating to goods and services that may be subject of, or exempted from the goods and services tax; the threshold limit of turnover below which goods and services may be exempted from GST and the rates including floor rates with bands of GST.

Since notification of the GST Council on 12 September 2016, six meetings of the Council have been held in New Delhi. These meetings were held on 22-23 September, 2016; 30 September, 2016; 18-19 October, 2016; 3-4 November, 2016; 2-3 December, 2016 and 11 December, 2016. During these meetings, number of important decisions have been taken paving way for roll out of GST with effect from 1st April 2017.

Some of the important decisions taken in the last six Meetings of the GST Council are:

i. The threshold limit for exemption from levy of GST would be Rs.20 lakhs for normal States (Rs.10 lakhs for the Special Category States enumerated in Article 279A of the Constitution).

ii. The threshold for availing the Composition scheme would be Rs.50 lakhs. Service providers would be kept out of the Composition scheme.

iii. To compensate States for 5 years for loss of revenue due to implementation of GST, the base year for the revenue of the State would be 2015-16 and a fixed growth rate of 14% will be applied to it.

iv. Approval of the Draft GST Rules on Registration; Payment; Return; Refund and Invoice, Debit & Credit Notes with the understanding that minor changes may be permitted with the approval of the Chairperson, if required, due to suggestions from the stakeholders or from the Law Department.

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