Midnight event at Parliament to mark GST rollout

The Midnight party is reminiscent of India's independence at the stroke of midnight in 1947

A special event will be held at the historic Central Hall of Parliament on June 30 to mark the roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax. The midnight function to launch the GST will be held between 11 PM and 12.10 AM on June 30 effectively ushering in India's new tax regime on July 1.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday told the media that the midnight event will be held at Central Hall on June 30. The circular-shaped Central Hall will be used for the first time by Narendra Modi government to host the event.

"GST will be launched from midnight of June 30 and July 1. The launch function will be held at Central Hall of Parliament. MPs, Chief Ministers and state finance ministers are being invited,' said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda will be on the dais for GST rollout. The occasion is expected to be a special one for President Pranab Mukherjee since GST was originally piloted by him when he was the finance minister in the previous UPA government.

Addressing concerns of businesses, Jaitley said that short-term challenges will be faced during the switch over. "We had been very clear that GST will be rolled out by July 1. Nobody had any business not to be ready," he added.

Jaitley said that most states had accepted the amendments made to the act and had already paved way for its implementation. GST has been dubbed as the most significant economic reform since BJP government came to power in 2014. It is expected to add as much as 2 percentage points to the GDP growth rate besides raising government revenues by widening the tax net.

OneIndia News