BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sikender Kumar hailed GST 2.0 as a landmark reform, comparing it to the 1991 liberalisation and UPI revolution. He said the new tax structure will empower consumers, strengthen India’s fiscal system, and potentially add Rs 20 lakh crore to GDP
BJP MP Sikender Kumar with PM Modi. Pic/X
With the latest GST reforms bringing in significant changes in the old tax structure of India, BJP Rajya Sabha member from Himachal, Sikender Kumar, termed the GST rationalisation as a "next-generation reform process". He highlighted that the latest GST reform will empower consumers, liberate entrepreneurs, strengthen economic sovereignty and chart a course for a prosperous and inclusive India, reported news agency PTI.
In his article on the subject, shared with media persons in Shimla, Kumar, who has also served as the Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University, said, “GST 2.0 could prove as transformative as the 1991 liberalisation or the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) revolution of 2016 by linking people's growth to national productivity and lowering the consumption barriers, improving capital efficiency and strengthening institutional credibility."
The renowned economist, while hailing the new tax structure, stated that when GST, billed as India's biggest tax reform since Independence, was introduced in 2017. It was hailed as an act of national unification for unifying the national market, freeing it from the complex web of excise, VAT and service taxes.
Asserting that GST 2.0 was a masterstroke to stimulate aggregate demand, accelerate economic formalisation, enhance industrial competitiveness, and stabilise inter-governmental fiscal relations, Sikender said, "It is a growth philosophy in action that harmonises lessons of Keynes (demand stimulus), Harrod-Domar (efficiency booster), and the Neo-Keynesians (institutional stability) to prepare India for short-term dynamism and long-term resilience."
“If implemented effectively, this multi-dimensional growth lever has all the economic ingredients to improve India's fiscal architecture and propel the country onto a trajectory where every rupee spent, saved, or invested would yield greater national wealth,” the Rajya Sabha MP added.
While emphasising that the new GST reforms will energise the economy, he said, “The government envisions these next-gen GST reforms to significantly energise the economy, potentially adding Rs 20 lakh crore to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and these next-stage reforms have come at a crucial juncture, when India has already become the fourth-largest economy in the world and aims to reach a USD 10 trillion size by 2047.”
“GST 2.0, though initially causing some revenue sacrifice, charts the roadmap for robust collections in the medium term as compliance would improve and lower GST rates would boost consumption,” the MP concluded.
(With inputs from PTI)
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