Letter to BS: Raghuram Rajan's statement on GST, growth has serious defects
Can GST be implemented without initial hurdles?
 "Raghuram Rajan")
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Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan.
This refers to “Excessive centralisation of power one of India’s main problems, says Rajan” (November 11). Former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan’s (pictured) lecture has serious defects. He has called the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a headwind for growth. He mentions “initial hurdles of implementation of GST”, which means he does not blame the GST itself. But still he calls GST a headwind. Can GST be implemented without initial hurdles? When the value added tax (VAT) was introduced in the UK, it was known as the most unloved tax. He has been a chief economic advisor in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that actually sponsored VAT all over the world. IMF has helped in designing the GST. It has been lauded also by Kaushik Basu. All business houses have accepted it as the most modern and path-breaking reform. Trucks carrying goods are no longer detained for hours at states borders. Central sales tax has been abolished and that has benefited the interstate sales by 4 per cent. GST has made India a common market.