GST will weed out black money: PM Modi

On the first day after the GST bill came into effect, Prime Minister Modi spoke at lenghth while addresssing CAs at an event organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India ( ICAI). The event was organised to launch the new curriculum for Charterd Accountants. The Prime Minister reiterated that "CAs are the pillars of Indian economy". He urged them to bring technological innovations to meet global standards.

He also laid emphasis on the worldwide role of Indian CAs. During the launch of the new curriculum, PM tried to link the new provisions of GST to the enhanced role of CAS in our country. Throughout his sppech, the PM gave umpteen examples of how development of a country can be hindered, if there are citizens who are not honest and indulge in unfair practises like stashing unaccounted monet abroad. He also questioned the intention of people who decline to pay taxes which is actually accrued for national development

He laid emphasis on how the current government has changed older laws and strengthened laws gainst corruption and black money. He also said that "GST will weed out black money". Indian deposits in Swiss bank are at its lowest since 2014, which implicitly meant that the new dispensation which came in power in May 2014, took concrete steps to bring back stashed money. The PM also assured in substantial reduction of India money at the Swiss Bank after the introduction of real-time data and its availability.

He also said that over 3 lakh firms are under suspicion. "With stricter norms and legal actions the current government has been successful in deregistering over 1 lakh firms," he said. He strongly reiterated that people who stole from poor will not be spared as they will be taken to task.

The PM drew a comparrission of the number of people who went abroad last year to the number of prople who actuallly paid taxes last year. There was a wide disparity among both the figures. He also urged the Charterd Accountants to take firm steps in ensuring that people who are entrusted to manage the financial accounts should be held responsible in their work. He also drove home the point that the CAs occupy a pivotal position in our financial management. "I am hopeful the new course will boost the financial skills of people joining this profession.

We need to develop a dynamic system in our institutions and human resources to meet the global benchmarks and requirements," Modi said.