Sources close to Modi had initially advised him not to take the position but today’s meeting, which was held by the country’s finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, seemed to have changed Modi’s mind.
Modi, who is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bihar deputy chief minister, is expected to build consensus among states on agreeing to the GST.
The minister's first task will be to get other BJP-led states, which have been critical of the new tax, to agree to a GST.
Modi replaces Asim Dasgupta who served in the post for the past decade and oversaw the implementation of India’s value-added tax regime.
