Turning years of wait into reality, the Constitutional Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST) received Presidential assent on September 9 and turned into a law. The consent has moved the government a step closer to do away with indirect taxes.

Next on agenda is formulation of the GST Council, which will be enabled after consultations with state Finance Ministers. The council is supposed to decide on the standard rate of GST in the country, along with area-based exemptions.

“If you ask me in terms of economic priorities even outside Parliament, I would say that certainly implementation of GST is the top priority. We look ahead, it’s a very stiff target. We are running against time. I would certainly like to give it a try”, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told media.

Under the norms specified in the GST Constitutional Amendment Bill, the government needs to form the Council within 60 days from the day the President gives his assent.

“Glad to inform that we are ahead of our schedule for implementation of GST so far. Instead of 30 days kept for this it is achieved in 23 days”, Financial Services Secretary (Ministry of Finance) Hansmukh Adhia tweeted.

GST seeks to create a uniform indirect tax system across country and is believed to give an upthrust to all businesses, especially the ones in SME sector.

“After implementation of GST, it should be easier for SMEs to become part of entire national value chain… Next challenge would be how to make SMEs part of global value chain”, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das told media.

This 122nd Constitutional Amendment Bill was passed on August 8, during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, and then moved for Presidential assent on September 1, after the requisite number of states had ratified it.

The government is planning to roll out GST from April 1, 2017.