Amit Mitra named chairman of GST committee of state FMs

The Finance Minister of West Bengal Amit Mitra on 19 February 2016 was named the chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Mitra will succeed Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani who had to resign in November 2015 over corruption charges.

Mitra will be the second chairman of the panel, tasked with framing rules for roll out of the GST regime, which will subsume all indirect taxes and create one national market, from West Bengal.

About Amit Mitra

• Amit Mitra is an Indian economist and politician representing All India Trinamool Congress and the current Finance, Commerce & Industries Minister of the Indian state of West Bengal.

• He is the incumbent MLA in the West Bengal state assembly from the Khardaha state assembly constituency.

• He previously served as the Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

About Goods and Services Tax Bill

• The Goods and Services Tax Bill or GST Bill, officially known as The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014, proposes a national Value Added Tax to be implemented in India from June 2016.

• GST will be a comprehensive indirect tax on manufacture, sale and consumption of goods and services throughout India, to replace taxes levied by the Central and State governments.

• GST will be levied and collected at each stage of sale or purchase of goods or services based on the input tax credit method.

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