Prime Minister reviews GST rollout preparedness

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting to review the preparedness for the rollout of goods and services tax (GST) on September 14, 2016. The meeting was attended by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, both the Ministers of State for Finance, senior officers from the Prime Minister's office and the Finance Ministry.

In order to ensure that there is no slippage on date of implementation of GST from April 1, 2017, the Prime Minister reviewed the progress made on various steps such as preparation of model GST laws and rules to be framed, establishment of information technology infrastructure for both Centre and States, training of officers of Central and State Governments and outreach for awareness of trade and industry.

He directed that all steps must be completed well before April 1, 2017.

He observed that the GST Council would need to have intensive meetings to be able to make timely recommendations relating to its mandate provided in Article 279A including recommendations relating to model GST laws, GST rates, goods and services that may be subjected to or exempted from GST.