Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his North Block office Thursday, a day before the formal launch of the Goods and Services Tax in Parliament. (Source: Express photo by Renuka Puri) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his North Block office Thursday, a day before the formal launch of the Goods and Services Tax in Parliament. The Goods and Services Tax will weave the country’s $ 2 trillion economy and 1.3 billion consumers into a single market. 2003: During the tenure of Jaswant Singh as Finance Minister, the Constitution was amended to explicitly allow the Centre to tax services. 2005: Under Prime Minister Singh and Finance Minister Chidambaram, state VAT was rolled out on April 1, 2005.

Source: Indian Express June 29, 2017 20:26 UTC