Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday it was a “constitutional compulsion” to roll out the Goods and Services Tax before September 16, 2017, reported PTI.

He added that since the existing indirect tax system will cease to exist by September next year, it will be impossible to run the country without revenue collection.

 “The Constitution does not permit a delay in GST implementation. The government notified GST on September 16 and the constitutional amendment itself says the current indirect tax system can continue for one year, after which the GST has to come. So, you have a constitutional compulsion to have GST in place before September 16 (2017), otherwise the country doesn’t run. Therefore, our intention is it gets implemented from April 1, 2017,” he said. Jaitley made the point that states should not oppose every reform for the sake of opposition because that made investors wary.

Jaitley added that the GST coupled with demonetisation will prove to be the game-changers for the Indian economy.

“India is likely to continue to be the fastest growing major economy in the world, as it was last year.”