Modi in Israel: With GST, India heading towards a transparent tax regime, says PM

Tel Aviv: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday termed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as by far the biggest economic reform and said India is now moving towards a modern, transparent, stable and predictable tax regime.

Addressing an India-Israel CEO Forum, he said regulatory and policy issues facing companies have been resolved and his government is positioning India as a manufacturing hub.

India-Israel CEO Forum, which met for the first time today, set a target to increase the bilateral trade from the current USD 5 billion to USD 20 billion within five years.

"GST is by far biggest business and economic reform of India. Now, we are moving towards modern tax regime, which is transparent, stable and predictable," Modi said.

With MoUs worth over USD 5 billion concluded on the sidelines of his unprecedented visit, he said a new chapter has been opened in India-Israel relations. "The driving force is opportunities for betterment of lives of people."

"We (Indian government) have resolved number of regulatory and policy issues facing businesses and companies. We have worked very sincerely for ease of doing business," he said.

Modi said his government is "positioning India as a global manufacturing hub. This is necessary for us to take advantage of youth energy. For this, we have launched Make in India", he said.

On relations between the two nations, he said, CEOs and talents of India and Israel together are sowing seeds of miracles for betterment of the world.

Israel, he said, is known as start-up nation. "It has a unique sense and ecosystem of innovation and incubation. Credit must go to the Israeli entrepreneurs," he said.

"There is lot of potential for India-Israel partnership in start-up India and I am happy that India-Israel start-up bridge has been formally launched today," he said.

The CEO Forum also set up six joint committees covering start-ups, pharma and life sciences, homeland security, agriculture, energy and water sectors.

The India-Israel start-up bridge was launched to encourage start-ups of the two nations to work together and come up with innovative solutions to tackle challenges in the agriculture, water and healthcare sectors.