The government today said that all efforts are on to meet the time limit to roll out Goods and Services Tax,GST from 1st of April, 2017. It said, members of the GST Council are participating in the meetings with a very positive attitude and are working towards the roll-out of GST.<br/><br/>It also said, all the decisions in the GST Council till now have been by consensus. Some of the important decisions considered in the meetings include the threshold limit of 20 lakh rupees exemption from levy of GST for normal States and 10 lakhs for the Special Category States. <br/><br/>Besides, to compensate States for 5 years for loss of revenue due to implementation of GST, the base year for the revenue of the State would be 2015-16 and a fixed growth rate of 14 per cent will be applied to it. Bands of rates of goods under GST will be 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent. <br/><br/>In addition, there would be a category of exempt goods. Further, a cess would be levied on certain goods such as luxury cars, aerated drinks, pan masala and tobacco products, over and above the rate of 28 per cent for payment of compensation to the States.<br/><br/>The Ministry said, at present, agenda points pertaining to 'GST related draft laws' and 'Provisions for cross empowerment to ensure single interface under GST' are under consideration of the Council. Next meeting is scheduled on 22nd and 23rd of this month.