India needs another round of reforms for better GDP growth and rid itself of unnecessary regulations to reduce corruption, Paris-based think-tank OECD has said.
"Our basic view is that India needs another round of reforms," OECD Deputy Secretary General Richard Boucher told PTI in an interview. He was here to participate in the World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia.India's growth rate slipped to decade's low of 5 per cent in 2012-13. In the current fiscal, it is expected to improve to 6.1-6.7 per cent. The Reserve Bank, however, expects the growth to be 5.7 per cent in the current fiscal.
Asked as to what India could do to have improved economic growth, Boucher said: "India needs to do things to increase government efficiency, smoothing the way for projects, reduce regulatory burden on companies and open up some more to competition. So, we think that another round of reforms is necessary."
Referring to the issue of corruption, he said, "One thing that reduces opportunities for corruption is to get rid of unnecessary regulations as this opens up the economy and also means that there are fewer opportunities for somebody to ask for a bribe." Besides, e-governance, fast green clearance for projects and better procurement systems lead to quicker, smoother and transparent working system, he said, adding that there are some other reforms underway like implementation of GST.
"It will bring much broader benefits than opening up one specific sector. We are starting now the next economic survey of India which will come out next year. We have had some of the initial discussions and will have much more thorough discussion that will be coming out next year," Boucher added. Appreciating government's decision to open up FDI in multi-brand retail, he said, "It has a lot of benefits - for farmers, consumers, supply chains and better pricing mechanism. I think that is very important."
On sharing of information among nations to curb taxevasion, Boucher said: "What countries are moving towards is more automatic information exchange. We have been proposing and supporting that this kind of stuff can be very helpful." Also, he said, OECD is working on, and where India has been a strong contributor, is 'Base Erosion Profit Shifting'.
The BEPS project is looking at whether, and if so why, the current rules allow for the allocation of taxable profits to locations different from those where the actual business activity takes place. It aims at providing comprehensive, balanced and effective strategies for countries concerned with base erosion and profit shifting. "This is an attempt that we are doing with other organisations like G-20 to see the way world trade has changed and the way products are manufacturing has changed," Boucher said.