Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the Finance Ministers of 24 States of the country have confirmed their participation in the next round of GST Council meeting which is scheduled to be held in Assam Capital from Thursday.
Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said this on Monday while addressing the newsmen and added that the State is ready to host the two day long GST council meeting, which is also an honour for the State. “While there will be a meeting of the finance department officials of the different States on Thursday, the full council will meet on Friday (November 10) where Jaitley will also participate,” said Sarma.
The Guwahati meeting assumes importance for several reasons. “It will likely to review three months of implementation of the GST. Composition scheme committee, committee for rationalisation of rates and and the Committee on GST network will submit their reports in the Guwahati meeting and issued will be discussed,” Sarma said.
“24 States of the country have so far confirmed their participation in the two day long meeting. While the Finance Ministers of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh cannot come due to elections in the State, we are yet to get confirmation from States of Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura,” said Sarma while adding that the Chief Ministers of Bihar and Manipur will be present in the meeting as they holds the finance portfolios.
“The State Government will host the dignitaries from all the states and are also planning to arrange visits of these dignitaries to the historical Kamakhya temple and the Kaziranga national park,” he said.
Giving the statics of implementation of GST in Assam, the State Finance Minister said that the growth of Assam after the GST is encouraging compared to other States. “While the State’s revenue was Rs 330 crore in August, it rose up to Rs 390 crore and Rs 486 crore in September and October respectively this year,” the Minister added.