India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said there was a Constitutional compulsion to roll out the Goods and Services Tax, asserting that the government's intention was to kick off the ambitious reform by April 1. Speaking at a function, the FM said, "So, you have a Constitutional compulsion to have a GST in place before September 16, otherwise the country doesn't run, and the tax is absolutely essential. Therefore, our intention is to gets it implemented from April 1, 2017, that was the original intention."
He stated that investors would be careful of choosing states if they are seen to be on the wrong side of reforms. "The states must welcome the decision and I can only tell you, if some states are seen as opposing every reform, then investors in the country and the ones coming from outside, must decide which are the states they want to invest in." Jaitley said that demonetisation along with GST would boost the economy and make it cleaner. "I have least doubt in my mind that (one year from now) you will have a bigger economy, higher GDP, cleaner GDP. You will have a higher tax base and more money in banks, and probably interest rates will be more reasonable. Therefore, all these collectively could contribute a lot as far as GDP is concerned. I personally believe that once the remonetisation process is complete and the GST is implemented, it's going to hugely impact India's businesses and also the Indian way of life."
He also said, "You will have more of digitised expenditures, you will have a taxation system far more efficient, which is extremely difficult to evade, where each limb of the transaction is being captured."
