- The reform process of India's indirect tax regime was started in 1986 by Mr. Vishwanath Pratap Singh with the introduction of the Modified Value Added Tax (MODVAT).
- A single common "Goods and Services tax (GST)" was proposed and given a go-ahead in 1999 during a meeting between then Prime Minister Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his economic advisory panel, which included three former RBI governors IG Patel, Bimal Jalan and C Rangarajan.
- Mr. Vajpayee set up a committee headed by the then finance minister of West Bengal, Asim Dasgupta to design a GST model.
- The Ravi Dasgupta committee was also tasked with putting in place the backend technology and logistics (later came to be known as GSTN in 2017) for rolling out a uniform taxation regime in the country.
- In 2003, the Vajpayee government formed a task force under Vijay Kelkar to recommend tax reforms.
- In 2005, the Kelkar committee recommended rolling out GST as suggested by the 12th Finance Commission.
- After the fall of the BJP led NDA government in 2004, and the election of a Congress led UPA government, the new Finance Minister P Chidambaram in February 2006 continued work on the same and proposed a GST rollout by April 01, 2010.
- However in 2010, with the Trinamool Congress routing CPI(M) out of power in West Bengal, Asim Dasgupta resigned as the head of the GST committee. Dasgupta admitted in an interview that 80% of the task had been done.
- In 2014, the NDA government was re-elected into power, this time under the leadership of Mr. Narendra Modi.
- With the consequential dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha, the GST Bill – approved by the standing committee for reintroduction – lapsed.
- Seven months after the formation of the Modi government, the new Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced the GST Bill in the Lok Sabha, where the BJP had a majority.
- In February 2015, Jaitley set another deadline of April 01, 2016 to implement GST.
- In May 2015, the Lok Sabha passed the Constitution Amendment Bill, paving way for GST.
- However, the Opposition, led by the Congress demanded that the GST Bill be again sent back to the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha due to disagreements on several statements in the Bill relating to taxation.
- Finally in August 2016, the Amendment Bill was passed.
- Over the next 15 to 20 days, 18 states ratified the GST Bill and the President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to it.
- A 21-members select committee was formed to look into the proposed GST laws.
- State and Union Territory GST laws were passed by all the states and Union Territories of India (except Jammu & Kashmir; Kashmir passed the bill on Jul 05, 2017), paving the way for smooth rollout of the tax from 1 July 2017. [States passed S-GST Bill]
- There will be no GST on the sale and purchase of securities. That will continue to be governed by Securities Transaction Tax (STT).
- Chairman of GST Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (Head was from Opposition Party ruled State)
1) Asim Dasgupta of West Bengal - CPIM
2) Sushil Modi from Bihar - BJP
3) Abdul Rahim Rather from July 2013 to
March 2015 - PDP
4) K M Mani from March 2015 to November
2015 - Kerala Congress
5) Amit Mitra from February 2016 to present
- Trinamool Congress
- The Goods and Services Tax (GST), was launched on the midnight of June 30, 2017 by the Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi and President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee.
- The launch was marked by a historic
midnight (June 30-July 1, 2017) session of both the houses of parliament
convened at the Central Hall of the Parliament.
- It is one of the few midnight sessions that have been held by the parliament - the others being:
August 15, 1947 à declaring India’s independence marked by
Nehru’s historic speech Tryst with Destiny
August 15, 1972 à celebrating the silver jubilee of India’s
independence
August 15, 1997 à celebrating the golden jubilee of India’s Independence
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