Nitin Gadkari says GST is key to achieve 5 trillion dollar economy

New Delhi: For the past several days, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has been making optimistic statements on the issue of fuel price hike, alternatives to petrol and diesel, and the country's development.

The use of ethanol has provided a better alternative to petrol-diesel and a better plan is being worked out to save on fuel, which is expected to be decided in the next three months.

Gadkari hopes that after this plan, the dream of boosting the country's economy to five trillion dollars can be achieved.

In a special webinar on the occasion of GST Day, Nitin Gadkari spoke on the journey of GST and the future of self-reliant India.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) will help the Indian economy reach its target of 5 trillion by 2025, Gadkari has said. The event was organized by the Institute of Cost Accountants of India.

GST is designed with one country, one market, one tax in mind. This helped the trade and industry even during the current pandemic.

This system will continue to be useful for all. The Goods and Services Tax system came into force on July 1, 2017. In the last four years, there have been significant changes in the way businesses are run, Gadkari said.

Digitization and information technology also play an important role in this. Gadkari said that in addition to financial audit, performance monitoring is also very important to ensure transparent and timely decision making process.

Delayed / pending payments of micro, small and medium enterprises are a major concern and it is imperative to address this issue. Even though GST has completed four years, there is still room for improvement.

Gadkari lauded the initiative for conducting regular webinars, seminars, various courses on topics across the country, saying that cooperation, coordination, liaison and improvement is expected from all stakeholders in the system.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has announced plans to install ethanol-powered flex engine vehicles in the next three months.

Gadkari is confident that the use of ethanol produced from local agricultural products will increase the dependence on conventional fuels like petrol and diesel.

The use of Flex engine has started from Brazil, USA and Canada. This has forced carmakers BMW, Mercedes and Toyota to produce flex engines.

Using locally made ethanol from agricultural products as a fuel is definitely affordable for a country like India. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the import of crude oil.

This will reduce costs and reduce pollution. Nitin Gadkari pointed out that a liter of petrol costs Rs 100, while a liter of ethanol costs Rs 60 to Rs 62.