No delay in rolling out GST: Asim     

The target for rolling out Goods and Services Tax (GST) remains April 1, 2010, the Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers Asim Dasgupta today said.

"We are aiming to rollout the GST from April 1," Dasgupta told FICCI members at the first public opinion meeting on the discussion paper on GST, which aims to subsume most of the indirect taxes in a phased manner.

There are apprehensions that a few states are trying to push introduction of GST fearing loss of revenue.

Dasgupta, the finance minister of West Bengal, said initially there will be revenue loss but subsequently it will grow. There will be sharp jump in revenue from services and decrease from other sectors.

"We expect to witness similar trend seen after the introduction of VAT. After VAT, collection had jumped by 100 per cent in West Bengal.

Source: Press Trust of India, India, dated 11/12/2009