The historic Central Hall of Parliament will host a midnight function on June 30 to launch the sweeping tax reform of GST, reminiscent of India's tryst with destiny on the midnight of August 15, 1947.
After 17 tumultuous years, a nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST) will roll out from midnight tonight, overhauling India's convoluted indirect taxation system and unifying the USD 2 trillion economy with 1.3 billion people into a single market. GST, which will replace more than a dozen central and state levies like factory-gate, excise duty, service tax and local sales tax or VAT, is India's biggest tax reform in the 70 years of independence and will help modernise Asia's third largest economy.
The historic Central Hall of Parliament will host a midnight function on June 30 to launch the sweeping tax reform of GST, reminiscent of India's tryst with destiny on the midnight of August 15, 1947. The government will use the circular-shaped Central Hall, perhaps for the first time, to launch a new taxation system that is set to dramatically re-shape the over USD 2 trillion economy.
The launch event will in all probability start at 11 pm on June 30 and extend into midnight, coinciding with the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, official sources said.
A gong will be sounded at midnight to signify that GST has arrived. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is key speaker at the function where President Pranab Mukherjee is also present. The GST Bill was originally piloted by Mukherjee when he was the Finance Minister in the previous UPA regime. The GST Council, that brings together the central and state governments, has met 17 times to thrash out how the tax will work.
Originally, the launch of GST, which has been in works for over a decade, was to be done from Vigyan Bhawan -- the largest convention centre in the national capital that has hosted majority of the meetings of the GST Council.
But the historic Central Hall was thought to be a better choice considering the importance of the new tax code that unifies more than a dozen separate levies to create a single market with a population greater than the US, Europe, Brazil, Mexico and Japan put together.
Here's the complete schedule:
Revised Programme
Central Hall-June 30, 2017
22:55 hrs
President arrives at Parliament House, received by dignitaries
23:00 hrs
President arrives in Central Hall
23:01 hrs
Playing of National Anthem
23:02 hrs
Felicitation and introductory remarks by Finance Minister
23:10 hrs
Film/Presentation on GST
23:15 hrs
Address by the Prime Minister
23:45 hrs
Address by the President of India
00:00 hrs
Launch of GST (including film)
00:03 hrs
Announcement by Marshal
00:04 hrs
Playing of National Anthem
00:05 hrs
President leaves
List of guests who will attend at the Central Hall of Parliament:
President Mukherjee
Vice President Ansari
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
Former PM HD Deva Gowda
LS Speaker Sumitra Mahajan
Former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal
NC leader Abdul Rahim
Former GST Council chairman Sushil Kumar Modi
Former FM of Bengal - Asim Dasgpta
Former FM of Kerala - KK Mani
Amitabh Bachchan
Business tycoon Ratan Singha
BJP president Amit Shah
Former FM Yashwant Sinha
Governor of RBI - Urjit Patel
Former governors Bimal Jalan, YV Reddy and D Subbarao
CAG Shashi Kant Pai
Former CAGs Vinod Rai
TN Chaturvedi
Niti Ayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya
E Sreedharan
S Gurumurthy
M Swaminathan
UPSC Chairman David R Syeiemilieh
CBEC Chairman Vanaja N Sarna
CBD Chairman Sushil Chandra
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