Jaitley shoots down Congress party's demand to cap GST

After meeting state finance ministers, Jaitley said there was a consensus among Indian states against the Congress party's stand

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday shot down the opposition Congress party's demand to write a cap for the proposed goods and services tax (GST) into the Constitution.

After meeting state finance ministers in Kolkata, Jaitley said there was a consensus among Indian states against the Congress party's stand.

The proposed tax reform, India's biggest revenue shake-up since independence in 1947, seeks to replace a slew of federal and state levies, transforming a nation of 1.3 billion people into a common market.

The Congress party, the original author of the tax reform, has said it would back the GST bill if the government agreed to cap the tax rate at 18 percent and create an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between states.