A ray of hope for GST

There is a ray of hope for the GST Bill to be tabled during the current Parliament session following the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former PM Manmohan Singh. It is hoped that Mr Modi will continue this dialogue with Mrs Gandhi and Dr Singh, and maybe even with leaders of parties supporting him who feel slighted, in the coming days without too much of a break.

The Congress’ demands are not out of place. The capping of GST is not preposterous; it is in line with global standards, which is 16 per cent, and 17 per cent in China. So 18 per cent is not unreasonable if India is to be globally competitive. The “Make in India” initiative will benefit if it has to export manufactured goods and compete with China. The panel headed by chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian may suggest any rate but finally it is Mr Modi who is answerable to the people for the success of his economic programmes. Mrs Gandhi, too, should transcend the pettiness of the leaders around her and let the past intransigence of the BJP in disrupting several sessions of Parliament be forgiven. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley may be in denial about the BJP’s role on GST in the past, but he has nothing to lose. Similarly, the scrapping of the one per cent tax demanded by three states can be scrapped since the government is reportedly compensating states for loss of revenue. One will hopefully see this issue pan out positively in the coming days.