Subramanian Swamy terms GST ‘biggest madness’

BJP leader and MP Subramanian Swamy stressed the need for ensuring economic growth at 10% a year for the next decade for the country to become a super power.

Towards this end, efforts should be made to see that investors are not terrorised by the provisions of the income tax and goods and services tax. The GST, he said, was the “biggest madness” of the century and it is so complicated that no one understood the finer aspects like which form to fill and where. The BJP MP was speaking on ‘India – an economic superpower by 2030’, an event organised by Pragna Bharati here on Wednesday.

He expressed concern over the insistence on submission of the GST-related forms online and said the focus should instead be on improving the efficiency levels of investments for ensuring the anticipated 10% annual growth for the next 10 years. The country had achieved 8% growth from time to time, but there had been no improvements relating to the reforms put in place by former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao.

The country was currently faced with shortage of demand as people did not have money to spend and this was in turn hindering the economic cycle. If the country wanted to achieve 10% growth, the investment rate to the GDP should be 37%. For this, the efficiency factor ought to be 3.7%.

“How do we achieve that efficiency needed to utilise investments? Firstly fight corruption and second, reward those who will invest,” he said. Laying emphasis on this would ensure that the country could overtake China and would be in a position to challenge the United States for the number one position in the next 50 years.

He demanded that P.V. Narasimha Rao be given the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the country, for the reforms that were introduced during his tenure. “We have not improved on the reforms that Narasimha Rao with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister in his Cabinet implemented,” he said.