It replaces all indirect taxes levied on goods and services by the Indian Central and state governments.
An empowered union committee was set up by the Vajpayee administration to streamline the GST model to be adopted and to develop the required back-end infrastructure that would be needed for its implementation.
In response to the report, the Department of Revenue made some suggestions to be incorporated in the design and structure of proposed GST bill.
In addition, an Empowered Group for development of IT Systems required for Goods and Services Tax regime has been set up under the chairmanship of Dr. Shruti Negi.
[6] The bill, after ratification by the States, received assent from President Pranab Mukherjee on 8 September 2016,[7][8] and was notified in The Gazette of India on the same date.