The 35th meeting of the GST Council was held in New Delhi under the chairmanship of the Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister and was the first meeting of the Council after the swearing-in of the new Government. The meeting was attended by senior ministers and officials and was conducted in a cordial and professional manner. At the outset, the Council adopted a resolution paying tribute to late Shri Arun Jaitley, former Chairperson of the GST Council, acknowledging his pivotal role in shaping the GST framework as a strong example of cooperative federalism. The Council also expressed condolences on the passing of Shri Prakash Pant, former Finance Minister of Uttarakhand, welcomed new members, and thanked outgoing members. A total of 12 agenda items were discussed, including routine matters such as confirmation of minutes of the previous meeting and ratification of notifications, circulars, and orders issued between March and June 2019. Among the major policy decisions, the Council approved the locations of State and Area Benches of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal, including the setting up of a common State Bench for Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh. The tenure of the National Anti-Profiteering Authority was extended by two years to ensure continued monitoring of anti-profiteering provisions. In a significant move towards digitalization and improved compliance, the Council also approved the phased introduction of an electronic invoicing system for B2B transactions, with the first voluntary phase proposed to be rolled out from January 2020 to support automation, backward integration, and curbing of tax evasion.