NITI Aayog Vice Chairman

Former Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya on Wednesday pitched for a two-rate Goods and Services Tax (GST) structure with a small exemption list. Panagariya also said that the Indian economy has grown fairly rapidly in the last 17 years, and it will grow at 7-8 per cent in the next couple of decades. "We should get to two GST rates(structure)....Also, we need to prune the GST exemption list," Panagariya at an event organised by Columbia Global Centers here. The decision of the GST Council to impose 5 per cent tax on pre-packaged and labelled food items such as cereals, pulses and flour weighing less than 25 kg has generated political controversy. For a commodity measured in litres like curd and 'lassi, the limit is 25 litres. A nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST), which subsumed 17 local levies like excise duty, service tax and VAT and 13 cesses, was rolled out at the stroke of midnight on July 1, 2017. Under GST, a four-rate structure that exempts or imposes a low ra

Suman Bery is non-resident fellow at Bruegel, a European think tank specializing in economics.

Kumar, while addressing 'NITI Aayog's Fintech Open Summit', further said the rise of fintech has accelerated financial inclusion

Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Wednesday said the government is taking all possible measures to ignite private investments, which will be the best bet to pull the economy out of the shadows

Vice-chairman of Niti Aayog Rajiv Kumar on Thursday said that the private sector of the country will have to drive growth and not the public enterprises as they used to be.

India needs to grow at10.5-11 per cent in real terms in the next fiscal and sustain that to overcome massive ill-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kumar said

Kumar expressed hope that the proposed asset reconstruction and management companies to address banks' bad loan woes will do a good job like the UTI

India's economy will grow at 10 per cent in real terms and by the end of next year it will reach pre-Covid-19 level, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said

NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar also stressed on boosting domestic entrepreneurship and self-reliance

He admitted that the Indian economy would see a contraction in July-September, but opined that the decline must be slow

According to him, recovery in August and September was quite smart, and it has been witnessed across many high frequency indicators

Terming Parliament clearing two key farm bills as a "historicand landmark moment" for Indian farmers, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Sunday said there is no risk of farmers being exploited by big corporates. The Upper House passedthe Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020. "A historic and landmark moment for Indian farmers with the Parliament passing the two bills liberating the farmers from traders cartels. The government will guarantee procurement of farmers' output at MSPs announced." Kumar said in a tweet. He also noted that there is no risk of farmers being exploited by big corporates and that the "central government is committed to ensure that". Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant saidthese reforms open doors for new jobs and a new consumption boom in rural areas of India. "These long-due structural reforms will lead to income & wealth

He also noted that while early signs of economic recovery are encouraging, sustainability of this recovery will be key

On the coronavirus situation in the country, he said it is unfair to compare India's dealing of the Covid-19 pandemic with Western countries

According to Kumar, the objective of the Rs 20 trillion-economic stimulus package announced by the government was to revive aggregate demand and not just consumer demand

Organic or natural farming is the sunrise sector of Indian agriculture, Kumar said, adding exports from this sector have risen significantly and have great potential for growth.

India was not an autocratic country, Kumar said and added that whatever needed to be done had to be within the democratic framework

Rajan's policies on NPAs led to the slowdown in the economy and not the government's demonetisation drive: Congress leader

Reduction in tariff has benefitted 1.2 billion subscribers who on an average spend Rs 108 per month for telecom services

Even the NITI Aayog Vice Chairman has often talked about the legacy inherited by the current government and how it has affected its performance