At least 24 states to participate in 2-day GST council meet in Assam

Guwahati: Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma here on Tuesday said that at least 24 states have confirmed their participation in two-days long GST council meeting, which is going to review the implementation of GST here from Thursday.

Informing that GST Council meeting in Guwahati is more significant as it is also going to discuss the reports of three committees -- on composition scheme, rationalization of rates and GST network, Sarma said, "Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have informed that they will not be able to attend the meeting because of assembly elections in their states. Union minister Arun Jaitley, who heads the council, will attend the meet along with the chief ministers and finance ministers of states. Chief economic adviser Arvind Subramaniam will also be present in the meeting going to start in Guwahati from Thursday."

Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura are yet to confirm if they will be attending the meet.

On the first day, finance officers from the states and the Centre will congregate and present their reports and the full council, headed by Jaitley, will meet on Friday.

Indicating that the GST council may be deliberating and taking some landmark decisions on streamlining the GST in Guwahati, Sarma, who is also tourism minister of the state, said that they also intend to avail this opportunity to showcase the tourism potential of the state before the guests.

"Many participants of the council meeting, visiting Assam for the first time, may like to enjoy the state's beauty. Keeping this in mind, we have made arrangements to take the participants to some of the interesting tourist destinations. On Saturday, a trip to Kaziranga has been planned," said Sarma while adding that visits to the Kamakhya Temple and a Brahmaputra cruise are also lined up.