Infosys Co-Founder NR Narayana Murthy on Friday said India should not be worried about the perception of foreign investors on GST regime, but hoped the respect for the country will improve in their eyes once they realise that the system is hassle-free.
"I don't think India is very high on the radar screens of most nations.That is the reality, but this initiative will reduce hassles for anybody who wants to operate in India."
"Once they start their operations in India then they will realise that this system is comparable to what they have experienced in developed nations. So then their respect for India will improve," Murthy told the news agency.
He said there may be more (global) investments coming in and they would be much more enthusiastic to participate. "That is how I look at it. I don't think we should worry whether some foreigner is saying, this is good or bad," he added.
Asked what GST means for India in economic terms globally if the country boosts its GDP by two per cent ahead of China, he pointed out that China has the second largest economy in the world, whose GDP was four times that of India.
"Therefore I don't think we should lose time in boasting about ourselves vis a vis China. That is not necessary, but we have to work harder and enhance our GDP growth rate and make the country stronger in terms of public infrastructure and defence, among other things."
To a query, he said it is true that Government had not included certain GDP-driving commodities like petroleum products, but that he would rather look at the issue with the 'extraordinary tenacity' Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown in making this happen.
"It was very easy to say let us postpone by another year, but he didn't do that. He and the Finance Minister said we will implement it. I would like to take that view frankly."
Asked if he sees taxes falling due to GST implementation in future,Murthy said the new tax system would help Government collect data on various products, which would allow it make 'zillions of analysis' and enable it to get huge insights into the tax regime to make taxation easier and simpler.
On the demand from various sectors, including solution providers, to postpone GST implementation as they are not ready, Murthy said "I often used to say ships are safe at harbours but they are not meant to be there. They have to go into the high seas. Face storms and reach the comfort of a desirable destination. Hence let us not needlessly worry about possible problems."
He suggested setting up of rapid reaction warranty teams to attend to problems with utmost alacrity on 24/7 basis.
"This is a must whether it is in the US, U.K., Japan, Australia or China, so I am not frankly that much concerned because life is full of problems, but we have to make progress in spite of the problems," Murthy said.