Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the government will not blink on rolling out the Goods and Services Tax from first of July and the new tax measure will be officially launched on midnight of 30th of this month. Briefing media in New Delhi yesterday, Mr Jaitley said the launch function will be held at the Central Hall of Parliament.

He emphasised that businesses cannot give any excuse for not being ready as enough time was given to them for preparation.  He said there will be some challenges in the implementation of the GST, as it will unify more than a dozen separate levies to create a single market. However he also said this major tax reform over the medium to long term will lead to higher revenues to Centre and states while also increasing the size of the economy and having a positive impact on the GDP. Mr Jaitley said the new tax reform is a step is for betterment. He pointed out that all reforms initially are seen as disruptive, and in the long run are seen as result yielding reform.

He said, as GST is a more efficient system which is prone to checking evasion, revenues will grow, and spending capacity of Centre and state governments will increase. Reminiscent of India’s tryst with destiny at the mid- night of August 14-15, 1947, Parliament’s historic Central Hall will host an hour-long function on the intervening night of June 30-July 1 to mark the rollout of GST. Mr Jaitley said President, Prime Minister, Vice-President, Chief Ministers, and Opposition leaders will be part of the event. The Minister said almost all states have cleared the State GST Act, with the exception of Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala.