GST Roll-Out to Bring Unprecedented Reform: Survey

New Delhi: Expressing disappointment over delay in passage of the GST (Goods and Services Tax) bill, the Economic Survey on Friday said the roll-out of GST will usher in an "unprecedented reform" in modern global tax history.

"There have also been some disappointments - especially the Goods and Services Tax - which need to be retrieved going forward," said the Survey tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament.

GST will subsume excise, service tax, VAT and other state levies, will bring in a single-rate indirect tax in the country and is estimated to affect 2-2.5 million excise and service taxpayers.

"Accelerated structural reforms at the Centre, the dynamism of competitive federalism, and good economics being good politics could all combine to maintain the fundamental promise that is India," the Survey said.

The government had originally planned to roll out GST from April 1, 2016. But the bill is stuck in the Rajya Sabha as Congress is opposed to three clauses on the bill. The ruling NDA does not have a majority in the upper house.

"Approval for the game-changing GST bill has proved elusive so far," the Survey said, terming it as an "unprecedented reform" in modern tax history."

The GST has the potential to push India's GDP by 1 to 2 per cent.