GST council met 30 times, took 918 decisions in 2 years

New Delhi: The GST council, chaired by finance minister Arun Jaitley, has met 30 times and taken 918 decisions related to laws, rules and rates for the new tax regime in just over two years.

The goods and services tax (GST) council, which comprises state finance ministers and Union minister of state in charge of revenue as members, was set up on September 15, 2016, as the country’s first ‘federal institution’.

“More than 96 per cent of the decisions have been implemented thro­u­gh 294 notifications issu­ed by the central government,” the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. The remaining decisi­o­ns are in various sta­ges of implementation. Almost equal nu­mber of corresponding notifications ha­ve been issued by states, it added.

The GST council has ushered in a new phase of cooperative federalism wh­ere the central and state governments work together to take collective decisions on all issues relating to indirect tax regime of the country, it said.