Hasmukh Adhia rules out delay in GST rollout

Mumbai: Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on Tuesday refuted rumours about delay in implementation of the Goods and Services Tax or GST regime. "The rumours about GST implementation being delayed are false. Please do not be misled by it," Adhia said in a tweet.

The government has indicated that it was fully prepared to roll out the indirect tax regime from July 1, a deadline that was revised from earlier April 1 due to differences over sharing powers and revenues.

However, the entire programme of GST rollout lags only on one count, the implementation of e-way bills. On May 25, GSTN chairman Navin Kumar told The Indian Express the implementation of the e-way bill could be delayed as the draft rules had not been discussed or drafted by the GST.

The e-way bill once implemented will track intra-state and inter-state movement of goods of value exceeding Rs 50,000 and providing tax officials the power to check the bill at any point– while goods are in transit — to check evasion, the report added.

Kumar had also said that rules for e-way bill were expected to come into force, and that was not expected before December.

“That (e-way bill) will take time. That will not happen on July 1. I think the earliest that it can happen is by December because the Council has not approved the rules yet. (When) the rules are there, only then we will start working on it,” said Kumar.