NEW DELHI: The government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi began a last push before the end of a stormy parliament sitting to pass a major tax reform aimed at boosting economic growth, but an opposition party dug in its heels to stop the bill, according to media sources.
Aimed at creating a customs union for India’s 1.2 billion people, the Goods and Service Tax (GST) is the biggest revenue shake-up since independence from Britain in 1947. Supporters say it will add up to two percentage points to economic growth.
A series of obstacles to the prime minister’s ambitious agenda of economic reform has increased a sense among debt-laden domestic companies suffering subdued earnings that India’s fledgling economic recovery could take longer.
Indian shares fell about 1 per cent on Tuesday led by declines in banking stocks along with jitters over the parliament showdown and China’s yuan devaluation.
