GST Key Factor in Improving Ease of Doing Business: Shaktikanta Das

New Delhi: Expecting an early passage of the GST (Goods and Services Tax) Bill by Parliament, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das on Monday said the administrative machinery is ready to implement the new indirect tax regime, which will be a key component in improving ease of doing business in the country.

"I think the biggest contribution to ease of doing business in our country will be made if GST is implemented in time. We are quite hopeful and optimistic that Parliament will definitely very soon appreciate the urgency of GST and have the Constitution Amendment Bill passed," he said.

Addressing industry leaders at a CII event here, Mr Das said the administrative machinery is "fully geared" both at states and central level to implement the GST at the earliest.

"GST is critical component of improving ease of doing business. Apart from having a common market, which will make our cost of production and our competitiveness far more effective... (GST) will also make a big contribution to logistic cost and transactions costs that we today are faced as economy," the Economic Affairs Secretary said.

Quoting an estimate, Mr Das said a truck carrying goods, on an average, remains stranded at different checkpoints for 48 hours. Implementation of GST will help in removing such bottlenecks, he said.

The GST Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in May last year and is pending ratification by the Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA does not have a majority. The Congress party is opposing the Bill in its current form and is demanding that a cap on the GST rate be included in the Constitution Amendment Bill.

Keen on getting the much delayed GST Bill approved by Parliament in the second half of the Budget session  of Parliament beginning next month, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently said he will reach out to the Congress again to persuade it to support the legislation.

The GST Bill, hailed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as the biggest reform in India since independence in 1947, seeks to replace a slew of central and state levies, transforming the nation of 1.3 billion people into a customs union.

After it is approved by the Rajya Sabha, the legislation needs to be ratified by half of the 29 states so as to roll out GST possibly by October 1.