GST to be simple for everyone by March: Union Minister

Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla on Wednesday said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) should smoothen out by March 2018 as the government has been addressing the concerns and it would become so simple that people would not have any issues.

"By March, it will be so simple that even children will able to understand... even in a country like Singapore, it took four years for GST to get stabilised. I am proud that our government has responded to the issues so quickly," he said while addressing the 116th annual session of the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Post the Guwahati meet of the GST council, tax rates on many products were reduced to 18 per cent from 28 per cent, which was appreciated by businesses, the minister said.

About the increasing non-performing assets (NPA) problem, he said, the Central government has done its bit in terms of recapitalisation support to banks to ensure their better financial health, but the banks should not make it a "tradition" to depend on the government.

"If we did not do that (provide recapitalisation support) the banks could not have been saved. But banks should not make it a tradition," he said.

Banks, particularly the nationalised ones "should stand on their own", he said.

Elaborating, he said many public sector banks appear to be sinking just because they went ahead and lent huge amounts of money to entities without proper due diligence.

The Central government has already announced Rs 2.11 trillion recapitalisation support to state-run banks to help them to meet capital requirements.

--IANS

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