The Centre announced that the Goods and Services Tax regime has provisions that allow for the online payment of taxes through debit or credit cards. Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia made the announcement at the Global Investors Summit in Indore on Sunday, IANS reported.

Adhia said, "The best thing that will happen is all payments will have to be made online. You can use any mode of payment, electronic, National Electronic Funds Transfer, Real-time gross settlement systems." He said debit and credit cards of any bank would be accepted, and that payments could be transferred from private bank accounts too.

The regime aims to increase accessibility to input tax credit and relax the compliance tax burden. He said, "I would ask the states to focus on the services sector because industry will come on its own once demand increases."

The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, cleared five sets of draft rules related to registration, payments, returns and refunds, under the new tax regime. These include the online registration of residents within three days of the submission of application, the news agency reported.

The council failed to reach an agreement on rate bands with state governments during a meeting that ended on October 19. The Council will now discuss the rate structure in its next meetings on November 3 and 4.

The GST has been a key issue for the Bharatiya Janata Party as it is expected to bring about widespread economic changes by replacing India's multiple commercial taxes with a single levy. The GST Bill got President Pranab Mukherjee’s approval on September 8, after being ratified by 16 states. It was passed by the Rajya Sabha on August 3. The Centre plans to make the regime effective in the new financial year.