Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal assured that there is no need to panic over the 50 per cent tariffs imposed by the US, as trade negotiations are underway with Washington.
In an interview with news agency ANI, Goyal also said that the states need not have any apprehension about the latest reforms in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the country.
He also spoke about the current GST regime still having three slabs and explained the move of the items placed under the earlier 12 or 18 per cent to either 5 or 18 per cent now.
Good Relations With US
On the issue of US tariffs on imports from India, Goyal expressed confidence that the issue will be resolved.
“… Well, I don’t think there’s any need to panic. We should allow the negotiations to happen. We continue to have very good relations with the United States, and I’m sure that we’ll be able to resolve some of these issues and come to an equitable, fair and balanced agreement,” said the Union minister.
“No, there’s never a timeline in negotiation. You should do it patiently because you are working for the long term. You have to look at the future and decide what you want. Time will tell whether it works out well in a short time frame or a longer time frame…,” he added.
No Need For Apprehension On GST Reforms
Speaking on the states having apprehension over revenue loss due to the dual slab reforms in GST, Goyal said, ” I don’t think anyone needs to have any apprehensions. In a collection of over Rs 22 lakh crores in a year, it’s a very small amount.”
“Attractive pricing and lower costs normally automatically help in increasing demand, and therefore, I personally think that the tax collection will actually go up. It may be a few months here or there, but it’ll go up very significantly,” he added.
On Three GST Slabs
The Union Minister slammed the critics as uninformed who criticised the GST reforms, saying that three slabs still exist. In addition to the 5 and 18 per cent, the government also introduced a 40 per cent tax slab under which it categorised items like cigarettes, tobacco, gutkha, aerated and alcoholic beverages.
“I think the naysayers or the people who raise this question are very uninformed about the needs of Indian society. We have a large section of people who need to receive goods at a very low price. So we have kept the 5% GST rate, and all the goods of the common man are at 5%. Then there is a set of goods that can afford to have an 18% rate. There aren’t too many now. Those help to subsidise the poor people’s goods,” Goyal said.
“And the ones at 40% are those that I’m certain you or anybody else will not want to make cheaper. Particularly considering the health element… Healthcare has a lot of relief. So many life-saving drugs have become zero-duty, so many medical devices have come down in duty, so many other medicines are down, health insurance has come down to 0% on insurance policies, and life insurance policies are at 0% from 18%. So there are a lot of good moves in this,” he added.
