After the Centre and states struck a consensus on contentious issue of sharing administrative powers, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is set to be rolled out from July 1. With this, the road is clear for the Union government to table the associated bills in the second half of the upcoming budget session of Parliament that commences from 31 January.

To be sure, there are other issues that need to be addressed. For instance, the GST council will have to also resolve the various tax slabs. At the end of the ninth GST council meeting yesterday, both sides agreed to work towards meeting the new deadline and share administrative control over small and big taxpayers in a fixed ratio.

Both, but especially the Centre, conceded some ground to generate a consensus on this long-pending issue that was threatening to derail the implementation of the singular piece of tax reform which will, for the first time, economically unify the country. The Centre had earlier targeted a rollout on April 1.