Revenue Secretary reviews IT preparedness of RBI, CBEC for GST

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia here on Monday reviewed the IT preparedness of the various stakeholders, including Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks and Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC), for roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

"A meeting was held under the chairmanship of Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia to review the IT preparedness of the various stakeholders for smooth roll-out of GST," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

"Representatives of RBI, CBEC, heads of government business and IT heads of 29 banks and Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) took part in the meeting," the statement said.

The review comes as only about seven months are remaining from the targeted date of April 1 for the roll-out of GST, which will subsume all central indirect levies like excise duty, countervailing duty and service tax, as also state taxes such as value added tax, entry tax and luxury tax, to create a single, pan-India market.

Realising the criticality of IT preparedness of various stakeholders, the status of preparation of software along with details of protocol of information interchange were discussed, the statement said.

"All authorised banks were directed to ensure that their IT systems are in place for networking with RBI, GSTN and the accounting authorities of central and state government authorities, latest by September 30, 2016," it said.

--IANS

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