India sends loud message of political maturity by passing GST Bill:ASSOCHAM

NEW DELHI:Passage of the landmark GST Constitutional Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha today marks a new beginning of a broad based non-partisan political support for the critical economic reforms, ASSOCHAM president Sunil Kanoria has said.

Congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders of all major political parties, including the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, the ASSOCHAM chief said, “A loud and clear message has gone from Indian Parliament today that the country can rise above everything else when it comes to advancing its national interest whether in economy or any other issue of strategic importance.”

“Let there be no doubt among global investing community that India cannot walk the talk. After the 1991 reforms, this is yet another milestone in India’s economic reforms,” said Kanoria.

However, he said, having brought on board most of the political parties, the biggest challenge is to make it people-friendly.

“We have to ensure that overall tax rates do not go up, they should rather come down so that GST gets approval of the people,” said Kanoria.

“We have full faith in the leadership of the Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley who, we are sure, would be able to give a perfect roll out from April 2017,” he added.