(With PTI inputs)

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal to convert Goods and Services Tax Network ( GSTN ) into a government-owned company. Briefing the media, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said that the government will now own 100 per cent of the IT backbone to the new indirect tax regime.The GST Council, chaired by Jaitley and comprising state finance ministers, had in May agreed to a proposal to make GSTN a government company, with Centre owning 50 per cent stake and states together holding the remaining 50 per cent.Currently, the Centre and states together hold 49 per cent stake in GSTN. The remaining 51 per cent is held by five private financial institutions - HDFC Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd, NSE Strategic Investment Co and LIC Housing Finance Ltd.GST, which subsumed over a dozen local taxes, was rolled out on July 1, 2017. Over 1.1 crore businesses are registered on the GSTN portal.With enhanced role of GSTN from just collecting taxes to data analytics, the government felt that it should now be the majority owner in the IT backbone provider.