NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The "monsoon" session of the Rajya Sabha ended before lunch on Thursday without the passage of a major tax reform bill, after opposition protests that prevented the house from functioning every day of the three-week sitting.
The proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) is the biggest tax overhaul since independence from Britain in 1947. It will subsume myriads of federal and state tax levies, replacing a chaotic structure that inflates costs.
The delay in passing the law will make it difficult for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet a self-imposed deadline of next April for its launch.
(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh)