Letter to BS: Raghuram Rajan's statement on GST, growth has serious defects

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