Trust between Centre and states intact in GST Council: FM Sitharaman

In an exclusive interview with BS, Sitharaman said the first quarter lethargy is something which the Centre and the states will have to work on

In an exclusive interview with Shrimi Choudhary and Arup Roychoudhury, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre had kept the promises made to states and hence there was trust at the recently-held GST Council meeting. On broader economic issues, Sitharaman said while there were still uncertainties on the expenditure side of things, she was confident of a healthy tax revenue buoyancy in FY23. The FM said the high level of government debt-to-GDP ratio should not be a concern against the backdrop of two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. Edited excerpts from the interview:

It’s a difficult time to be