GSTN expected to be operationalised soon: official

The GSTN, the information- technology backbone of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), will soon come into operation as the Home Ministry is all set to grant security clearance to it.
The security clearance to The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) is expected any time soon, a home ministry official said, without elaborating.
GSTN, a not-for-profit private limited company, has 51 per cent equity of five private institutions -- HDFC Bank Ltd (10 per cent), HDFC Ltd (10 per cent), ICICI Bank Ltd (10 per cent), NSE Strategic Investment Corporation Ltd (10 per cent) and LIC Housing Finance Limited (11 per cent).

The central government has 24.5 per cent equity in the GSTN, whereas state governments, two Union territories and empowered committee of state finance ministers together hold another 24.5 per cent stake in it.
The finance ministry is looking into the GSTN with respect to economic security whereas the home ministry is examining threat perception to national security by any of the stakeholders in the company, the official said.
The procedure for granting security clearance to the GSTN involves background checking of office-bearers and others concerned.

The Centre plans to roll out the GST, which will subsume a number of central and state's taxes like excise duty, service tax and Value Added Tax (VAT), from July 1.

GSTN -- the company readying the IT backbone for the GST regime -- has been working overtime to ensure a smooth registration and all these assessees have been given a provisional ID, using which they can start transacting business from July 1.
When a business registers under GST, it is given a provisional GSTIN. After that, in the second stage, the business has to log in to the GSTN portal and give details of its business like the main place of business, additional place, directors and bank account details.
BJP MP Subramanian Swamy had earlier opposed the majority stake for private entities in the GSTN and written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard.