West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Saturday said roll out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1 will have ‘serious problems’ and there is no harm in delaying its implementation by a month. However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley exuded confidence that states are ready to implement the new indirect tax regime from July 1.
“I will stick to the target date,” Jaitley said. Demanding delayed implementation of the GST, Mitra said: “If Centre forces July 1 roll out, there will be serious problems. When we can see signs of major problem, what is the harm in delaying by a month or so. Today also I have expressed my views saying it should be delayed.”
Mitra also said that the Finance Minister has to first decide whether GSTN is ready for it. “So far, GSTN has been able to do test drive on 200-300 companies in each state. Forms and rules have been changed in May. The FM has to decide whether it should go ahead with the biggest fiscal reform when the IT preparedness is not 100 per cent,” he added.