TIME LINE OF GST

• 1986: VishwanathPratap Singh, Finance Minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s government, proposed in the Budget a major overhaul of the excise taxation structure. This was similar to GST in a theoretical sense.
• 2000: Initiating discussions on GST, Vajpayee government appoints an Empowered Committee headed by the then finance minister of West Bengal Asim Gupta.
• 2004: Vijay Kelkar, then advisor to the Finance Ministry, recommends GST to replace the existing tax regime.
• Feb 28, 2006: GST appears in the Budget speech for the first time. Finance Minister Chidambaram sets an ambitious task of implementing GST by April 1, 2010.
• Feb 28, 2007: Chidambaram said in his Budget speech that the Empowered Committee of finance ministers will prepare a road map for GST.
• April 30, 2008: The Empowered Committee submits a report titled ‘A Model and Roadmap Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India’ to the government.
• Nov 10, 2009: Empowered Committee submits a discussion paper in the public domain on GST welcoming debate.
• Feb 2010: Government launches project for computerisation of commercial taxes. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee defers GST to April 1, 2011.
• March 22, 2011: Constitution Amendment Bill (115th) to GST introduced in the LokSabha
• March 29, 2011: Bill referred to Standing Committee on Finance.
• Nov 2012: Finance minister and state ministers decide to resolve all issues by Dec 31, 2012.
• Feb 2013: Declaring government’s resolve to introduce GST, the finance minister makes provisions for compensation to states in the Budget.
• Aug 2013: The standing committee submits a report to Parliament suggesting improvements. But the bill lapsed as the 15th LokSabha was dissolved.
• Dec 18, 2014: Cabinet approval for the Constitution Amendment Bill (122nd) to GST.
• Dec 19, 2014: The Amendment Bill (122nd) in the LokSabha
• May 6, 2015: The Amendment Bill (122nd) passed by the LokSabha.
• May 12, 2015: The Amendment Bill presented in the RajyaSabha
• May 14, 2015: The Bill forwarded to joint committee of RajyaSabha and LokSabha
• Aug 2015: Government fails to win the support of Opposition to pass the bill in the RajyaSabha where it lacks sufficient number.
• Aug 3, 2016: RajyaSabha passes the Constitution Amendment Bill by a two-thirds majority. Note: GST constitutional amendment bill needs to passed by at least 50% of state legislatures to be implemented. Assam is 1^st State to pass GST bill.
• 1 July 2017: GST to be applicable across India.