After the successful passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill by both the houses of Parliament, there is increasing realisation that the roll-out of a uniform indirect tax regime across the country is far from easy. That's why, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has attributed the target date of April 1, 2017 for the introduction of the new law as virtually a race against time.  His statement underscores the long road ahead in the legislative journey of GST. According to Jaitley, the government is striving to introduce the necessary central legislation in Parliament's winter session. After the central legislation, the states need to pass their own legislations spelling out the details of GST. He expressed his happiness at the agility with which several state governments have ratified the Constitutional amendments, which now need to be taken up for Presidential assent, subsequent to which the Constitutional amendment will be notified and the GST council will be constituted.  At the fundamental level, details of GST are yet to be worked out in the absence of which the final GST rate cannot be fixed. So, it remains to be seen  when  GST will replace a range of existing local and state taxes - such as value added tax (VAT), custom duties, central sales tax (CST), excise duty and service tax - with a single tax.