00:00GST reforms, reduction, rationalization is encompassing the entire gamut of goods and
00:14services that touch a common man, that are required by farmers, that will give a good
00:22boost to the MSME sectors, our youth, our women, everybody stands to benefit. If you
00:29will see a person's daily life from morning till night, in one form or the other the reduction
00:37of GST will impact their lives. It is very holistic, very comprehensive. This to my mind
00:45is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gift to the people on the eve of Diwali. It will be
00:53implemented on 22nd September, first day of Navratri. And clearly, it is the biggest transformational
01:02reform that we have seen in decades. This will certainly give a big boost to consumption.
01:15It will encourage people to go out and get the things they have been wanting to do for
01:23a long time. It will bring simplicity to operations. So businesses will find it easier to do business.
01:33Common men and women will start meeting their aspirations for the better things of life.
01:39So somebody wants a television, somebody wants a refrigerator, air conditioner. We have tried
01:45to address the needs of the middle class and people from all walks of life through this dramatic
01:53and game-changing reduction that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done.
01:59Sir, some critical element to this is that they are saying it is still a two-slap or actually
02:04three-slap system despite having it. So why just not one system?
02:09I think the naysayers or the people who raised this question are very uninformed about the needs of
02:21Indian society. We have a large section of people who need to receive goods at a very low price. So we
02:30have kept the 5% yesterday and all the goods of the common man are at 5%. Then there are a set of goods
02:38which can afford to have an 18% rate. There are not too many now. Those help to in a way subsidize
02:50the poor people's goods. And the ones at 40% are those which I am certain you or anybody else
02:58will not want to make it cheaper, particularly considering the health element. After all, chewing
03:04paan masala, tobacco, the kind of health problems it can cause, smoking, the kind of cancers that it
03:13causes. We see it when we go to see a film. I don't think anybody wants to encourage this type of goods.
03:19And even the healthcare sector has just started.
03:22Healthcare has got a lot of relief. See, healthcare and so many life-saving drugs have become zero duty.
03:28So many medical devices have come down in duty. So many other medicines are down.
03:35Health insurance has come down to zero percent on insurance policies. Life insurance policies are at
03:42zero percent from 18 to zero. So there's a lot of good moves in this.
03:47QG, one more aspect is the implementation and execution. Do you think companies are going to transfer
03:54this benefit to people and how do you ensure that? We have received assurance from all sectors of
04:00industry. Different levels, big and small, have committed that we will pass on the entire benefit to
04:07the common man. We are very confident that they will live up to the expectations. The Modi government
04:13always trusts stakeholders, just as the people of India trust Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
04:19So I think they will certainly pass it on. And we have sought a commitment from everybody which we
04:26have received. Obviously, there are mechanisms also to monitor it. And Consumer Affairs Department
04:32will certainly and finance will certainly monitor it. But I'm very confident that industry will not
04:38let us down because for them, lower duty, lower rates will mean pickup and demand and greater business
04:45and the benefit of economies of scale.
04:47QG, some comments made by the opposition, if I can bring it to you, they said it's better late than ever.
04:54Some are calling it 1.5 reform. There should be complete reform. So how do you look at this?
05:00Well, I think it only demonstrates their ignorance, that they have not understood the step-by-step systematic
05:07way in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made this entire GST over the last eight years a success story,
05:16which is watched by the whole world. He has ensured that more than 30 taxes, 34 or 35 taxes, duties and levies
05:27got abolished and combined into one tax. At that point of time, states wanted to make sure they don't lose revenue.
05:34So there was fitment in the nearest rate for all the products. Over eight years, Prime Minister Modi has kept reducing the rate,
05:44helping the people, common mind whenever required. I remember in 2018, he had reduced it in over 100 items.
05:52And continuously has been very sensitive to demands of people. But this time, since the compensation says was no more required,
06:01having met the 14 percent compensation growth every year to the states, by November or so it will be over, November, December, whenever.
06:11After that, it will not be required. That has given him the elbow room. And Prime Minister Modi decided that all of it should go back to the people of India.
06:20India. And it's a game-changing transformation.
06:24Going to my ending question, sir. How this shortfall will be? Because again, people fear that it will again come back to the taxpayer.
06:32No, I think there's a…
06:33And how the states have some apprehensions?
06:35I don't think anybody needs to have any apprehension. In a collection of over 22 lakh crores in a year, it's a very small amount. More so, the larger amount foregone is the GST compensation says,
06:51which was otherwise central government money, which we have foregone. And buoyancy in demand, the increasing
06:58demand because of attractive pricing and lower costs. Normally, automatically helps in increasing demand. And therefore, I personally think that the tax collection will actually go up.
07:12It may be a few months here or there, but it will go up very significantly.
07:17Sir, my question is that why the timing is now? Is there any link on the tariff issue?
07:25No, you will appreciate such massive reform cannot happen overnight. The work on this has been going
07:32on for quite a few months. Group of secretaries, group of ministers, finance ministry officials,
07:37they've all been working on it. It was expected that the compensation says we'll get over sometime
07:45towards this next quarter. So considering that they were working in this, towards this end,
07:51it's a matter of chance that the two have coincided.
07:54Sir, but what is the status of tariff? Because it's the most talked about subject in the country and
07:58a lot of panic and a lot of things are happening.
08:00Well, I don't think there's any need to panic. We should allow the negotiations to happen. We continue
08:08to have very good relations with the United States. And I'm sure that we'll be able to resolve some of
08:16these issues and come to an equitable, fair and balanced agreement.
08:21Is there any timeline?
08:22No, there's never a timeline in negotiations. You should do it patiently because you are working for
08:27a long term. You have to look at the future and decide what you're doing.
08:31What would you do on time?
08:32Well, I think time will tell whether it works out well in a short time frame or a longer time frame.
08:42So how much time will be taken? We'll have to allow the negotiators to.
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