The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs allotted Rs 2,256 crore for Project Saksham, an IT project to combine the Central Board of Excise and Customs' systems with the GSTN for the April 2017 GST rollout. Project Saksham aims to improve the CBEC's IT systems while keeping existing taxpayer services running as the number of taxpayers increases from 36 lakh currently to over 65 lakh after GST introduction. It also seeks to enhance ease of doing business and facilitate trade through initiatives like the Indian Customs Single Window Interface.