Former Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das on Friday said that the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a timely and transformative measure, which will catapult the Indian economy into a much higher level of transparency, efficiency and competitiveness.
"GST is a huge step for the Indian economy because it is an economic reform program, which has a sheer magnitude of transformative measure that will make businesses very competitive," said Shaktikanta Das.
He said that currently, there is a lot of anticipation globally, wherein the other economies of the world want to see of how the GST will impact the market as a whole.
"The reform will make the Indian economy a far more transparent economy as it will eliminate the growing parallel economy in the country," added Das.
"Any delay in GST will mean that the economy will suffer, the business will suffer and the growth of the country will be stifled," added Das while commenting on the plea of traders to delay the transformational tax reform.
Adding to this, he said the traders' concerns are genuine as any new reform implemented takes its own time. "But with the passage of time, they will realize that GST will ultimately create a situation where tax compliance will be simpler for everyone."
The GST, which is slated to be rolled out on the midnight of June 30, will bring the Indian economy under a single tax bracket.
The GST is said to be extremely beneficial to consumers, as it will bring down the price of goods and curb inflation.