Hope to pass GST, bankruptcy bills in budget session: FM

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SME Times News Bureau | 14 Mar, 2016
The government hopes to enact the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and bankruptcy bills in the second half of the budget session of parliament beginning April 20, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday.

"The current session of parliament has already seen one landmark legislation two days ago. And I do hope to see another two being passed in the second part of the session with regard to the bankruptcy and insolvency laws and GST," he said, addressing the Advancing Asia Conference in New Delhi.

"I think this gives major fillip or push to our reform process," the finance minister said.

"We are trying to have special emphasis now both in terms of legislative changes and resources being put to strengthen the banking system. I do feel that next few months, in bringing about structural change, are going to be extremely important," he added.

Parliament passed the Aadhaar Bill last week, providing legal cover to the unique identification number (UID) system facilitating cash subsidy transfer and benefits to identified recipients.

The bill for a pan-India GST for a thorough reform of India's indirect tax regime has been passed by the Lok Sabha, but is stalled in the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) lacks a majority.