Finance ministry, states move closer to draft GST bill

NEW DELHI : India’s finance ministry and state finance officials have broadly agreed on the draft of the national sales tax and are making “reasonable headway” on a few contentious issues, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

They will meet again for two days from Jan. 3, Jaitley told reporters, but did not clarify whether the country could meet the self-imposed deadline of April 1 for the launch of Goods and Services Tax, the country’s most ambitious tax reform as yet.

“I am trying my best,” he said when asked about the April roll out of the tax. “I am not going to bind myself with anything. Our effort is to do it as quickly as possible and I think we are making a reasonable headway,” Jaitley said.