Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of State for Finance, Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Haryana Finance Minister, Capt. Abhimanyu at a meeting of GST Council in New Delhi on Friday.
Chandigarh, September 23, 2016
Haryana Finance Minister, Capt. Abhimanyu, has hailed the decision to fix Rs 20 lakh as the threshold limit for imposition of Goods and Services Tax (GST as it would benefit 50 per cent of the traders in Haryana, who would not come under the purview of the GST system.
The Minister was interacting with media persons after a meeting of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council held under the chairmanship of Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on Friday.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was in favour of implementing GST in the entire country from April 1, 2017 onwards and the State was also fully prepared in this regard.
He said that the fixing of threshold for imposition of GST at Rs 20 lakh would provide relief to small traders and retailers with annual turnover of up to Rs 20 lakh, as this would reduce the pressure on them while ensuring better revenue collection. Small traders would also have to arrange for computers and other resources if they are included in the system.
This decision would also pave the way for fixing the upper limit of goods and services.
Earlier while attending the meeting, the Haryana Finance Minister had suggested that the threshold limit for imposition of GST be fixed at Rs 25 lakh, whereas Uttar Pradesh had suggested that the limit be fixed at Rs 10 lakh. However, the Finance Ministers of most States had seconded Capt. Abhimanyu’s suggestion, following which the limit was fixed at Rs 20 lakh. The petroleum products have so far been kept out of the ambit of the GST.
The next meeting of the Council would be held on September 30, 2016 and special meetings would be conducted from October 17 to 19, 2016.
Those present in the meeting included Union Minister of State for Finance, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Finance Ministers of all States and Haryana Additional Chief Secretary, Excise and Taxation, Sanjeev Kaushal.