After a reasonably successful switch over to value added tax, the finance ministry is speeding up the process for moving to a goods and services tax (GST). According to senior finance ministry sources, a committee set up to chart out the course for moving to GST will submit a report by this September-October.

Following this report, the suggestions will be put up to state finance ministers to come up with a final plan. The committee will try and identify which model of GST should be followed, leaving discussions on revenue sharing to the state finance ministers. It’s not clear how the new report will be any different from a roadmap suggested by the task force on implementation of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003. The task force was headed by Vijay Kelkar in July 2004, when Jaswant Singh was finance minister.

Over 40 models of GST are in force globally, each with its peculiarities. Once India switches to a GST regime, it would be much easier for the government to tailor its tax policies to help small businesses, even while beefing up tax collection.