Nilesh Shah, MD, Kotak AMC, says GST, demonetisation all helped in raising tax compliance and ensuring that India moves from the Africa peer group to the Asian peer group in terms of tax compliance.
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On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how would you rate the work done by the NDA government?
See the glass is either half full or half empty. Lots of work have been done and there are lots of work yet to be done. In 2014, India was the 10th largest economy in the world in US dollar terms. In 2018, we will be the fifth largest economy in the world in US dollar terms. In four years, we have moved five ranks, we have surpassed Brazil, Canada, Russia, France and United Kingdom. It is a matter of great pride for all Indians that now our economy is bigger than that of our erstwhile colonial masters – the United Kingdom. This is the fastest ever growth where India jumped five spots in four years. That should give viewers an indication as to what kind of work has been done.
That is true but critics say a lot of previous policies were being followed rather than any real innovation by this government. Would you agree that it is perhaps the legacy policies that are being taken forward?