Economic Survey, an utter confession of Govt failures: P Chidambaram
Aamir H Kaki Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Tuesday that the Economic Survey was an ‘utter confession’ that the current government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the last four years, has failed to deal with three major issues of employment, education and agriculture. He was speaking at a panel discussion after release of his book, Speaking Truth to Power - a collection of his columns in The Indian Express published by Rupa Publications. The book was released by former President Pranab Mukherjee. Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor, former Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, senior journalist Shekhar Gupta also participated in the panel discussion. The session was moderated by journalist and television personality Nidhi Razdan. Chidambaram disputed the ...
The 2009 GST framework had only two rates, 5% & 14%, Asim Dasgupta
By Sheela Mamidenna As the Chairman of the Empowered Group of State Finance Ministers which was instrumental in the formulation of GST Laws in 2009, Dr Asim Kumar Dasgupta can be rightly called as the ‘architect of GST’. A reformer by heart he set out to mastermind the most ambitious tax reform in Indian history by introducing the Value Added Tax (VAT). He was the man who was instrumental in doing away with many draconian tax levies such as octroi and highway toll in West Bengal and was fondly referred to as ‘my US-trained finance minister’ by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu. Dr Dasgupta, an MIT graduate continues to inspire the new generation as he lectures at various ...
India needs real economic reforms: Chidambaram
Sairaj Iyer Given the turn of surprising events during the day, there was an air of anticipation and excitement at the meet where former Finance Minister P Chidambaram spoke at length about India's economic growth, demonetization, reforms and taxes, simplifying taxes for commerce, anti-globalization, and many other economic issues and challenges that plague India and other countries. During the question and answer session, when asked what stood in the way of India's rapid economic growth, he said, in the background of demonetization, Trump's anti-globalization rhetoric, Brexit and sagging exports, 'it is the lack of focus on essential pillars such as taxes, bureaucracy, the creation of jobs and infrastructure'. The former Finance Minister was at his legal best using examples as reference points, ...
Demonetisation to relegate growth to 6% - 6.5% for 2 years
The Dollar Business Bureau Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram harshly criticised the demonetisation move, saying that the economy is stuck with a 6% to 6.5% growth rate in the next two years due to the 'ill-conceived' move. "You take it from me, the economy will not grow at more than 6 and 6.5 percent in 2017-18 and 2018-19. It will take two years for the economy to recover. People have lost confidence in currency. People are not spending," he said. Terming interference with the economy on such a large scale 'unnecessary', Chidambaram called the note-ban 'thoughtless' and 'ill-conceived', at the second anniversary celebration of Mana Telangana, a Telugu Daily. Citing increased corruption among banking officials post demonetisation, he pointed out that the government had shrewdly changed the motive of the move from initially 'eradicating corruption' to 'making ...
Industry calls for GST rollout & reversal of inverted duty structure to boost economy
The Dollar Business Bureau “Thanks to the new NDA government which has brought all the states on board, the GST Bill is most likely to come into force next year,” said Ajay Sahai, DG & CEO of FIEO (Federation of Indian Export Organisations) couple of days ago. Today, Adi Godrej, Godrej Group Chairman pitching for incentives for the manufacturing sector in the upcoming budget said that the Centre must roll out goods & services tax (GST) from next fiscal as it would boost economic growth by 2%. The main objective behind the implementation of the GST is to make country a unified market with lesser number of taxes. Lesser taxes will enable companies to invest more leading to increased ...
Make businesses future ready to deal with GST: Expert
Naveen Kumar | The Dollar Business “World over the new trend followed by many governments is to focus more on increasing indirect tax revenue rather than direct tax” said T S Ahluwalia, member, managing committee, FIEO while delivering his welcome address during a seminar on Goods & Service Tax (GST) Regime – A Revolutionary Change organized by Federation of Indian Exporting Organisations (FIEO) in Delhi on January 29, 2015. The theme of the seminar was to increase awareness about the proposed GST among exporters and help them prepare their businesses to be ready to meet future challenge posed by expected transformation in the tax regime of the country. Ajay Sahai, DG & CEO, while delivering his welcome address and setting the ...
