The end to the retrospective tax will boost industry’s trust in the government, Prime Minister Narnedra Modi has said.

“By rectifying the mistakes of the past, the government did away with the retrospective taxation. Going by the praise by the industry, the initiative will strengthen the trust between the government and industry,” he said in his address to the annual general meet of the Confederation of Indian Industry on Wednesday.

With the industry

Assuring that the government was with the industry, he said: “There’s a government in place that is trying to remove all bottlenecks and pushing all boundaries... that is taking your suggestions to strengthen our industry.” Highlighting the pick up in economic growth, Modi urged industry to step up its risk-taking appetite.

“To build our Aatmanirbhar Bharat, we have to tread difficult terrains. We have to maintain our core nature of taking risks,” he said.

Listing the passage of several reform-oriented Bills during the just concluded monsoon session, such as Factoring Regulation and Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Amendment Bill, the Prime Minister said that reforms are a matter of conviction for the government, which is ready to take all risks in national interest. “...Reforms continued even during the pandemic. The government is doing reforms not out of compulsion but out of conviction,” he said.

Overdue reforms

He said the reforms his government has done weren’t easy; but were overdue for decades.

Taking the example of the Goods & Services Tax (GST), he said the new system is showing good result. “GST wasn’t implemented by previous governments because of its political risks. We did not just implement it, we’re also witnessing record collections,” he said. Modi said that India is receiving record foreign direct investments because of the reforms of the last few years.

“Indians want products made in India; not necessary that a company has to be Indian but products should be made in India,” he said highlighting the success of Make in India and participation of non-Indian companies.

He acknowledged the success of start-ups. “Start-ups are showing self-confidence.... 7-8 years ago, India might have had 3-4 unicorns. Today, there are nearly 60...,” he said.

On the farm sector, Modi said it was once considered just a source of livelihood. But, now, “efforts are being made to connect farmers with domestic and global markets through historic reforms,” he said referring to the new farm laws.

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