With the Goods and Services Tax (GST) now a done deal, the GST Council meeting on March 31 saw much camaraderie between representatives of the States and the Centre. Ministers and officials were seen shaking hands and patting each others’ backs. Many were also observed conveying their best wishes to Najib Shah who retired as chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs on that day. A welcome addition to the Council was the former defence minister and now Goa’s chief minister, Manohar Parrikar, who has retained the finance portfolio and came to attend the meeting in that capacity. A very good time was had, indeed!

The Piyush mantra

At a recent SBI Card launch event, Power Minister Piyush Goyal was at his candid best. He advised the SBI Card team not to settle for less and go, instead, for a higher goal in terms of customer acquisition for its credit cards. At a time when SBI Card is aiming for a 100 per cent increase in the existing customer base (about 4.6 million), Goyal wanted them to aim for 300 per cent! Clearly Goyal does not want SBI Card to be circumspect in its customer acquisition strategy. Go for growth is his mantra.

Poll recruitment

The BJP has won over several veteran Congress and other Opposition leaders, some of whom have even got ministerial berths at the Centre and in the States. When a senior BJP leader was asked informally by reporters if some Janata Dal (United) leaders from Bihar had hinted at crossing over to the BJP after its spectacular victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, he denied the development. However, he jokingly commented that “recruitment” on a massive scale was going on in Karnataka (the latest recruit being veteran Congressman SM Krishna) which goes to the polls later this year. As for the other States, there is a “recruitment freeze” as of now!

A bit of Sachin, a bit of Rahul

If you’re talking about Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, cricket is bound to crop up in the conversation. So, it was not surprising that at the Breakfast with BusinessLine event, he was compared to cricketing stalwart Sachin Tendulkar for his impressive strike rate on the legislative pitch for steering the Goods and Services Tax Bills.

However, his expertise in successfully defending the volley of questions directed at him was more in the Rahul Dravid mould: as strong and steady as The Wall was when he was batting. Very strong on the defence, too!

Quick wit

The Government will do it, but will you? That seems to be the question from Arun Jaitley for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India president, Nilesh Shivji Vikamsey.

At the Breakfast with BusinessLine event, the ICAI president said the Government should come out with schemes to settle longstanding tax disputes after the GST rollout. To which Jaitley quipped that it could be successful only if chartered accountants encouraged their assessees. Quid pro quo!

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