GST will be in place by 2014, promises singh

The Goods and Service Tax (GST), one of the biggest tax reform initiative in the country, will be in place by 2014, prime minister Manmohan Singh said here today.

The Goods and Service Tax (GST), one of the biggest tax reform initiative in the country, will be in place by 2014, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here on Tuesday.

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He said there was a consensus "among professions and all shades of opinions" in favour of the GST though the country was set to face a general election in April 2014.

"I cannot say that we can deliver the GST tomorrow…but if you ask me, by the year 2014, I am confident that a GST of appropriate type will be in place," Singh said at an interaction with business leaders in Tokyo.

"We are going to elections in April 2014. Once this election is about to begin, I think there will be a strong determined effort, whichever government is there to move towards the GST because there is general agreement among all professionals of all varieties and of all shades of opinion that we need a GST to help the Indian growth story," Singh said.

"But India is a federation and in a federation, there are difficulties of getting all the states to agree and surrender their tax power in favour of GST," he said.