Passing GST needs political will: CII President

Industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President Naushad Forbes on Wednesday said it is a matter of political will to pass the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

"The problems in getting the GST passed are entirely political. They are actually no issues of substance remaining, if you have the political will to actually pass the GST, you can very quickly," said Forbes in his first visit to Bengaluru as the President of CII.

According to Forbes, passing the GST will bring a host of benefits to bolster the economy by adding one-and-half to two per cent growth rate to the annual GDP rate.

"If you work out the numbers and do a back of the envelope calculation. One-and-half per cent extra GDP growth year-on-year means that the average household in the country will have about Rs 8,000 more each year," said Forbes.

"Rs 8,000 more in year one, Rs 16,000 more in year two, Rs 34,000 in year three and so on," he said.

He said CII made its position very clear to both the government and the opposition on GST.

Reposing his faith on a normal monsoon this year, the CII president said the Indian economy will continue to be the fastest growing economy in the world with a growth rate of eight per cent in fiscal 2016-17.

The CII theme for fiscal 2016-17 has been set as Building National Competitiveness with human development, corporate integrity and good citizenship, ease of doing business, innovation and technical capability, sustainability and global integration as competitive enablers.

CII is also engaging on the Smart Cities front, it has signed 14 agreements through its mission on smart cities initiative including Bhubaneshwar, Pune and Jaipur aimed at successful implementation.

--IANS

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