Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arjun Ram Meghwal on Sunday claimed that major economic reforms undertaken by the present regime were of vital importance to lead the country into the league of developed nations of the world by promoting Ease of Doing Business (EoDB).
From demonetisation to promoting digital transactions and now implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1 are all steps in this direction, said Meghwal, while addressing the industry members at Confederation of Indian Industry’s interactive session here.
The Minister said that our ranking in EoDB has also improved from 142 to 130. These steps have also pulled shadow economy back as well and increased the tax base with the addition of 91 lakh tax payers. GST is the biggest economic reform to achieve a level playing field with the developed nations of the world, said he.
Meghwal also answered queries from the industry members on various provisions of GST raised by them such as input tax credit, ITC reverse tax, advance taxes, etc.
He said the reforms were aimed to help the industry and the government stands by its commitment.
Speaking on the occasion, Kirron Kher, Chandigarh MP said, “In the last three years, our government has moved ahead on nearly all fronts: macroeconomic stability, infrastructure, energy, corruption, direct and indirect taxes, foreign direct investment (FDI), closure of sick units, disinvestment, agriculture, urban development, cooperative federalism and social spending”
“With an excellent base of communication network, technical institutes, connectivity with other States, Chandigarh is rapidly emerging as a regional hub in the areas of service industry, education, healthcare, information technology, trading, tourism etc,” she added.
“The Chandigarh Administration has achieved the target of one account per household within 7 months of the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. Apart from this, over 1,82,414 RuPay cards were issued to people in Chandigarh. The PM Jan Dhan Yojana Award for Chandigarh has made the residents proud,” said Kher.
She added that Chandigarh was in the top 5 cleanest city in 2016. However our ranking has slipped this year. But, we are committed to make Chandigarh the cleanest and smart city by promoting the green technologies, she said.
Earlier, Gurmeet Bhatia, Chairman, CII Punjab State Council, said, “With a strong agricultural base, the State has built up a vibrant cluster of sectors such as textiles and apparel, light engineering and agro based industries. As Punjab gears up to retrace the high growth path and economic and business parameters undergo transformation, Punjab has all the fundamentals in place, to fire up its growth engine”.