Arun Jaitley at Vibrant Gujarat Summit: GST is game changer for Indian economy

Seminar on GST enabled discussion about the far-reaching impact of GST on almost all the aspects of the business operations in the country.

Gandhinagar, Jan 11: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addressed the audience at GST Seminar at Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017. The theme of the seminar was "GST: Game changer for the Indian Economy". Seminar on GST enabled discussion about the far-reaching impact of GST on almost all the aspects of the business operations in the country.

Jaitley began his address by stating that Vibrant Gujarat Summit has become the foremost economic conclave of India. He further added that with each summit the vibrancy of this conference has increased.

FM said, "India needs bold decisions, time now to clean up table. Difficult decisions initially pass through difficult phases". Regarding GST he briefed the audience that, "Most of the issues have been resolved,few critical issues are left which I hope that will be resolved in the next few weeks".

"Once GST is implemented, a combination of a more digitised economy with a more efficient tax system will make India better." FM also said that Indian economy has opened up significantly, sector after sector and that GST will make India's economy much cleaner and bigger.

Jaitley while talking about dependence on paper money said "Excessive paper currency has its own vices, it leads to its own temptations." He said treaties with Mauritius, Cyprus and SGP were rewritten as government desired that shadow economy should not prosper. He concluded by saying that GST is a poignant effort by India to improve the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking.

The seminar was also addressed by Dr. Naushad Forbes, president of Confederation of Indian Industry. He said GST is truly transformative in the way the Indian industry will operate. He said GST will expand India's tax base and thus reduce tax burden on those who are paying tax.

Mentioning more benefits of GST, Forbes said with GST, decisions like where to set up a factory will be based on economy - not tax arbitrage. He also added that GST will boost our global competitiveness and mark India as the world's preferred investment destination.

He had also mentioned in his address that GST will create a single market in the country and boost economic transparency.