New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS) The decision to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1 has been deferred with the chairman of the panel constituted to build consensus on the issue saying that it was not feasible to implement the new tax regime by the due date.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has asked the empowered committee of state finance ministers, headed by West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Sengupta, to work out a GST package whereby states have to share 50 percent of the losses due to Central Sales Tax for the current financial year.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Mukherjee admitted that the chairman of the empowered committee had expressed the opinion that it is not feasible to implement GST from the due date -- April 1.

"It was decided that discussions on GST will be continued in another meeting in early April," Mukherjee said in his written reply.

A joint working group comprising officers of the central government, a few state governments and the empowered committee of the state finance ministers, has been constituted to prepare drafts of the constitutional amendment bill, central and state GST legislation, added Mukherjee.

The government had set a target for uniform rollout of GST for April 1 but states are not willing to give up their powers that let them levy taxes unilaterally.