GST will lead to considerable increase in GDP in next 6 months: Adi Godrej

The Dollar Business Bureau 

Noted industrialist and Chairman of the Godrej Group Adi Godrej said on Wednesday that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will lead to significant growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) in the coming six months, while acknowledging that there are some specific teething issues under the new indirect tax regime. 

“This (GST) could add tremendously to our GDP growth. There are some teething problems here and there, I think they are being resolved. The government is taking a very refreshing approach to the GST introduction. I think it would be a great success and in the next six months or so, our GDP growth rate will rise quite considerably,” Godrej said at an event organised by the CII in Mumbai. 

On the different rates of taxes under the GST, he said that expecting a single or two tax rates in a country such as India having people with different income levels is very unrealistic. 

“Indeed, the new tax regime has been implemented as it was envisioned and a lot of consideration has done in deciding the tax rates at right level. There are several common consumption commodities on which the tax rates are lower now compared to what they were earlier and this will be quite helpful,” he said. 

The veteran industrialist further said that there is a need to encourage free enterprise to accelerate growth. 

“Private sector should be allowed to play its place and competition should control things... Let free enterprise take its course. It has built great economies all over the world. Free enterprise is what we should encourage, depend on and use to accelerate our economy,” he said. 

He also mentioned that there is a vast potential in agriculture sector and added that value-added production via processing could considerably support in the economic growth. 

“There is tremendous scope. There is a need to find ways to achieve this and also ways to avoid waste things,” Godrej said. 

The Godrej Group Chairman also pointed out on the need to focus on education, training and skilling, to make people employable. 

“In several cases nowadays, it is not like that the people are not getting jobs. But we are not able to fill them with right kind of skilled and trained people,” he said.