GST IN INDIA – AN INTRODUCTION

• In the year 2000, the then Prime Minister mooted the concept of GST and set up a committee to design a Goods and Services Tax (GST) model for the country. In 2003, the Central Government formed a task force under Vijay Kelkar, which in 2004 strongly recommended fully integrated ‘GST’ on national basis.

• Subsequently, the then Union Finance Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram, while presenting the Union Budget (2006-2007), announced that GST would be introduced from April 1, 2010. Since then, GST missed several deadlines and continued to be shrouded by the clouds of uncertainty.

• The talks of ushering in GST, however, gained momentum in the year 2014 when the NDA Government tabled the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 on GST in the Parliament on 19th December, 2014. The Lok Sabha passed the Bill on 6th May, 2015 and Rajya Sabha on 3rd August, 2016. Subsequent to ratification of the Bill by more than 50% of the States, Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 received the assent of the President on 8th September, 2016 and became Constitution (101st Amendment) Act, 2016, which paved the way for introduction of GST in India.

• In the following year, on 27th March, 2017, the Central GST legislations - Central Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017, Integrated Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017, Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017 and Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Bill, 2017 were introduced in Lok 

• Sabha. Lok Sabha passed these bills on 29th March, 2017 and with the receipt of the President’s assent on 12th April, 2017, the Bills were enacted. The enactment of the Central Acts was followed by the enactment of the State GST laws by various State Legislatures. Telangana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Goa and Bihar were among the first ones to pass their respective State GST laws. By 30th June, 2017, all States and Union Territories had passed their respective SGST and UTGST Acts except Jammu and Kashmir. With effect from 1st July, 2017, the historic indirect tax reform - GST was introduced. GST law was extended to Jammu and Kashmir on 8th July, 2017.