GST: Government To Launch Programme To Address Traders' Concerns

New Delhi: Keen to roll out a Goods and Service Tax (GST) by the target date of April 1, 2017, the government will launch an outreach programme to address concerns of small traders."We are trying to complete GST formalities to roll out GST regime within the target date," Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal said at a seminar here. GST will replace more than a dozen levies - central and state levies,

including central excise duty, service tax and central sales tax as well as VAT on sale of goods to make movement of goods seamless across 1.3 billion market."GST will usher in economic revolution," he said.

As the government gets to completing formalities including getting half of the 29 states to ratify the amendment to the Constitution for roll-out of GST, he said an outreach programme to address concerns will be started.

"We will start a programme, we will meet traders, small traders to address their concerns," he said.

Najib Shah of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said there will be "challenges" in implementation of the GST "because of number of taxes that will subsume".

Also, building consensus on GST rate will also be a challenge, he said.