'Some hiccups expected': Former Economic Affairs Secretary on GST
June 30, 2017 18:28
With only a few hours to go for the launch of the Goods and Services Tax, former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das said the government has prepared adequately for the roll-out.
"Over the last six to eight months, there have been a number of awareness and outreach programs for trades. The preparation has been quite adequate," Das said.
Asked to compare it with the government's announcement of demonetisation in November, he said, "The difference is that demonetisation affected almost every individual in the country, GST is something which affects directly about 70 lakh registered traders. So, the problems are far more less and it has been preceded by several months of preparation".
The Economic Affairs Secretary, who retired last month, was part of Finance minister Arun Jaitley's A Team not for only the budget, but he was also closely associated with the notes ban and the framing of the GST.
Admitting to some amount of teething troubles for the next few months, the former revenue secretary said, "When you look at the short-to-medium time span, things will iron out and all will be fine in a year's time".
Since the reform is so massive, there will be some traders who have legitimate concerns, he admitted. "But they don't need to worry. Their concerns will be addressed," he said.
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