16 states say YES, yes, GST now a law

GST, which was on the government agenda for a long time has finally become a legislation with President, Pranab Mukherjee finally signing on the bill and making one tax dream of the centre a law.

India has 29 states and two union territories with legislature, and at least 16 states were required to ratify the bill. Other states which had earlier approved the bill were Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, and Nagaland.

The Odisha assembly approved the Constitutional Amendment Bill for Goods and Services Tax (GST) and became the 16th state to pass the GST Bill. With this approval from Odisha assembly, the requirement of 50 per cent of states and union territories ratifying was completed.

The bill was unanimously passed in the upper house on August 3. However, to roll out the indirect tax regime by April 1, 2017, will be a challenge in front of Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley.