Government to reach out to opposition to get GST Bill passed: Finance Minister

Dubai: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said the government would make all efforts to persuade the opposition for the passage of Constitution amendment bill for implementation of GST in the winter session.

"The process of economic reforms is a continuing one, no reform legislation is stopped in Parliament in past though delay may occur ... make efforts with opposition to get GST passed by Upper House in coming Parliament session," he said at UAE India Economic Forum 2015 Meeting here.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST), which will subsume more than a dozen state levies to create a single market, is to be implemented from April 1, 2016. But the deadline may be missed if Parliament does not pass the Constitution Amendment Bill in the upcoming winter session beginning November 26.

The Bill has been passed in the Lok Sabha, it is awaiting clearance from the Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA lacks a majority. The main opposition party Congress has been opposing the passage demanding inclusion of few things in the Bill.

The Finance Minister expressed hope that main opposition party would take a rational view and support GST, a step for rationalisation of indirect taxes. With regard to growth Jaitley said, slowdown in China has impact on India but fall in prices of commodities have been favorable to India.

"Despite monsoon shortage we would be able to meet the challenge of growth...we would be able to grow better than last year despite global slowdown," he said.

Indian economy grew by 7.3 per cent during 2014-15. Talking about various steps taken by the government with regard to ease of doing business, he said tax reforms have been expedited including no retrospective taxation; rationalisation of taxes etc.

Besides, the government has taken steps to rationalize subsidies. The process of economic reforms would continue despite some bottlenecks being created by certain quarter, he added.