Minister Says Fiscal Year ‘January To December’ Will Not Happen Next Year!

Ministry of Finance,Santosh Gangwar,financial year from January 2018,Fiscal Year 2018,Narendra Modi,Union Budget,GST Council,indian financial year change,Mango News

India: According to Santosh Gangwar, the Minister of State for Finance, shifting the financial year will not take place next year. A discussion on shifting the financial year to ‘January to December’ instead of ‘April to March’ is still going on within the government.

The government has to present the Union Budget in the month of November in order to start the next financial year from January 2018. As this process seems to be time consuming, it is not possible to start the next financial year in accordance with the discussion, the minister said.

“These are points of discussion in the government. For now, do consider March as the end of this fiscal year,” Gangwar stated.

Apparently, there is no official confirmation and the government continued its stance telling ‘discussions are on.’

The Narendra Modi government had already advanced the Union Budget by February 1, 2017, in order to complete all the legislative processes and approvals for annual spending before the start of the financial year April 1.

Madhya Pradesh is the only state to adopt January to December financial year. On May 2, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan made a formal public statement that the state would be shifting to the new fiscal policy from the year 2018. He also said that the State would complete all its budgetary proceedings by the end of 2017. Chouhan has instructed to clearly chalk out the State government programs which are to be completed.

In the meantime, Gangwar said that the various issues which has cropped up after the roll out of the new indirect tax regime, would be discussed at the  GST Council meeting which has been scheduled for August 5.

“We have decided that on August 5 whatever changes are necessary will be brought about. The problems being faced by people will be considered. The Council will discuss on those lines and see if there is any need for change,” he said.

“Since the time GST has been implemented, people are putting forth representations on tax rates from all states. We will consider them. The glitches and problems experienced have been less than expected,” he added.

The April to March financial year was adopted in India in the year 1867 to align it with that of the British government. Before that, the Indian financial year used to begin from May 1 to April 30.

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