New Delhi, Jan 30 (KNN) Commenting over the recent Economic Survey tabled in the parliament, industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said that with latest reforms including GST and the Insolvency Code in place, the country’s economy is to experience boost in the long run.

“The economy will start reaping benefits of these reforms in the next fiscal year and we look forward to continuity in the reforms process displayed by the government,” Rashesh Shah, President of  FICCI said.

“Global economy is showing an improvement and to fully capitalise on same, Indian exports need to be made more competitive. Just as the clothing sector has seen higher exports on the back of incentive package, we hope that the government extends similar incentives to other sectors as well, the release further said.

Measures to drive investments and exports will not only revive growth but also create large scale employment opportunities, it added.

Quoting the findings of the survey, Shah said that there has been a fifty percent increase in the number of indirect taxpayers post GST and an addition of about 18 lakh in individual income tax filers since Nov 2016.

Large increase in voluntary registrations under GST, especially of small enterprises has led to greater formalization of the economy.

“The Government has been pro-actively working towards further improvement in GST structure. We look forward to convergence to fewer tax slabs and inclusion of all sectors within GST”, Shah added.

The survey also highlights the scope of reducing substantial tax litigation through government action. It clearly points out how tax departments have extremely low success rate when they have contested for tax disputes. Additionally, 66% of the pending cases account for only 1.8% of value at stake.

Stating its stance, Shah said that the Federation has repeatedly emphasized the need for reducing litigation through simplification and issuance of clarifications/ guidelines on various areas of tax disputes. We look forward to strong action on this front in the coming fiscal.

"Furthermore, greater coordination between government and judiciary will further improve our rank on ease of doing business as this is the next frontier for improving our competitiveness," a release from FICCI said. (KNN/DA)