Considerable progress made on introducing GST: Pranab

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said that considerable progress has been made towards implementing the Goods and Services Tax, a new indirect tax structure that would subsume levies like excise, VAT and service tax.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said that considerable progress has been made towards implementing the Goods and Services Tax, a new indirect tax structure that would subsume levies like excise, VAT and service tax.

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"There has been considerable progress in preparing a roadmap for introducing the GST and we value the suggestion the Chamber is able to provide on the approach of introducing the GST," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday at a PHD Chamber function.

The government has set April 1, 2010, as the deadline for implementing GST, but apprehensions are being expressed on bringing in the new tax regime from the scheduled date as a lot of ground work is yet to be done.

Another major task before the Finance Ministry is implementing the Direct Taxes Code, that will replace the Income Tax Act, 1991.

The Minister further said the government will take inputs from various stake holders, including industry chambers before finalising the Code.