GST enabled 50% increase in number of indirect taxpayers: Economic Survey

New Delhi: Indian economy accelerated in second half of current fiscal due to Goods and Services Tax, bank recapitalisation, liberalisation of FDI and higher exports, the Economic Survey 2018 said.

Although growth this year was hit by the chaotic rollout of a nationwide goods and service tax (GST) last year and a shock move to take high value currency notes out of circulation in late 2016, the Economic Survey in its preliminary analysis of the Goods and Services Tax data found that there was 50 percent increase in the number of indirect taxpayers.

The Economic Survey tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday. The annual survey was released ahead of the government`s annual budget statement, due to be presented by the FM on Thursday.

It said that India`s economy should grow between 7 percent and 7.5 percent in 2018/19 (April-March) with exports and private investment set to rebound.

The forecast estimates that gross domestic product will have grown 6.75 percent in the current fiscal year ending in March.

The survey warned that the coming year could be challenging, and cautioned that persistently high oil prices remain a key risk for a country that relies on imports for much of its fuel needs.

The survey points out that India can be rated as among the best performing economies in the world as the average growth during last three years is around 4 percentage points higher than global growth and nearly 3 percentage points higher than that of emerging market and developing economies.