Dr. R D Mishra,
President of the Utarakhand Productivity Council
The unanimous passage of the GST Bill by parliament has been welcomed by all sections of society including economists and academicians. Dr.R D Mishra, newly elected President of the Utarakhand Productivity Council is both. An Administrator, HR Consultant ,Teacher, Trainer & Researcher Dr. Mishra has contributed many articles in the field of Management in various Journals and Magazines and is a widely travelled man. In an exclusive interview with Business Sphere Dr.R D Mishra spoke to Amitabh Srivastava about the impact of GST and other issues. Q-How does the GST Bill make such hot news? A-This long-awaited Bill would not only save a lot of paper work it would also make many essential items cheaper by avoiding multiple taxation.For instance, petrol is not so expensive by itself but its prices become so high because of 30 % Central and state taxes plus Octroi. There are at least 66 % productds in India that attract such levies. Now with the GST coming into force all such items would be taxed at flat 18%. Q- Is the GST in practice in other countries? A- There are 160 countries in the world that have GST. In France the rate of GST is 23% while Pakistan has the same tax rate as India at 18%. Q-Besides avoiding multiple taxation how does the GST prove beneficial in the long run? A- I have been dealing wih productiviy most of my life.And I can tell you this Bill would lead to productivity enhancement. Once the taxes are reduced it would lead to increase in purchasing power as the same money would buy more products. More purchasing power means more demand and more demand means more productivity. Simple. Q-Are you happy with the health of the economy of the country under Modi? A- This Government has a massive mandate but it is not able to fulfill is promises. I had written a letter to the Primer Minister in July 2015 (BS has that letter in its posession) where I had told him, ”Your “Make in India” and “Skill development initiatives” strategy if really converted will enhance the GDP and standard of living. …I might have trained more than 75000 executives of Public and private sectors organizations in which I have told them that we need to address 3P & 3C problems: • P Refers to Production/Produce best Quality /cost to survive and compete globally P Refers to Population control for better Quality of life P Refers to Pollution of all type to control for better health & •C Refers to Corruption to control at all levels for Economic survival • C Refers to Crime to control for
peaceful society • C Refers to Cleanliness which is
the way to win GOD Q-In his elections speeches PM had promised to make India a manufacturing hub? What happend to that? A- We have not been able to make much headway in this.There are no funds for R and D.How can any country move forward in manufacturing unless it discovers newer ways of beating the competitors. Secondly, we are compromising with the quality of education.Instead of trying to improve standards of the existing IITs and IIMs in the country we are opening up such insitutes in every state.Children are not fools nowadays and most of these newly opened insitutes of higher learning are not getting students. How can we compete with the world market in this age of globalisation with such infrastructure?