Jaitely to meet state finance ministers before finalising GST

Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said on Wednesday that the government has holding a variety of discussions with states regarding the proposed Goods and Services Tax, including the crucial central sales tax compensation.

This comes ahead of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's meeting with state finance ministers on Thursday.

Sinha said any final decision on getting the constitutional amendment bill to Parliament will be taken after that. “As far as GST is concerned, we are working through a variety of different discussions and negotiations. FM is discussing with states on all outstanding issues then we can have a legislation.

Legislatively, a number of steps are required. We have to wait for the meeting on Friday.

Also the legislative agenda is heavy this session," Sinha said on the sidelines of the Delhi Economic Conclave, organised by the Finance Ministry.

The minister also said the decision by the government and the Reserve Bank of India to scrap the 80:20 gold import rule was to ensure the sector functions efficiently.

Any further decision on reducing gold duties will be a considered one. “The current account deficit and rupee situation are stable.

Let us see how things evolve. We have to take decisions one at a time,” he said. Sinha also said that India can grow to be a $4-5 trillion economy.

“If we really take our $2 trillion economy and get it on the sustainable seven to eight per cent growth rate then we have a situation when it doubles in 10 or 12 years to $4 trillion economy and if rupee strengthens we may end up getting closer to $5 trillion economy and if we can achieve this over 10-12 years, it would be extraordinary feat,” he said.