The implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code will in a major way boost India's ranking by the World Bank and international rating agencies that will help in attracting huge foreign investment, officials said on Thursday.
They also feel that the rating agencies are biased when it comes to rating developing countries like India vis-a-vis developed countries when it comes to several aspects like ease of doing business and other issues.
Giving a presentation on various aspects of economy and the reforms undertaken by the government in the last three years at a meeting with select editors, the officials said that the government has undertaken 183 reforms in all. But the World Bank has taken note of only 133 fully or partially implemented measures.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was also present, said the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code was not taken into account because it was not implemented last year.
The officials said as many as 122 reforms have been implemented and still 88 were under implementation.
Once these reforms along with structural reforms like the GST and the IBC are taken into account they will give us a major boost in rating, they said.
They said the Moody's has favourably commented on demonetisation and other institutional changes. Inflation handling has been acknowledged while Aadhaar has ensured institutional transparency. The banking sector intervention has also been favourably taken note of. In September, this banking aspect was considered as a great risk.
They have now acknowledged public debt has stable and the highest ranking in foreign exchange reserves in South Asia as having given a competitive edge to India. Resolving insolvency has been fully acknowledged.
Officials said while in the short term the Sensex and Currency Markets went up along with the bond market, in the long term the government feels that the rating upgrade will give a major boost domestically and internationally by attracting huge foreign investments.
On the GST implementation, the officials acknowledged that there has been an adverse impact on the micro, small and medium enterprises and the government was doing its best to help the sector which has a major role in the economy. Adequate time is being given to them for enrolment into the new tax regime.
"We will have to come out with some schemes for helping them," they said.
Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian said both demonetisation and GST are one off incidents. While demonetisation cannot be reversed, the GST can be made further simple. "We are going to simplify it. We have to simplify for the small guy," he said.
--IANS
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