Consumer Will Be the King, says PM Modi in Lok Sabha On GST

New Delhi: Intervening the discussion on GST in Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the new indirect taxation regime, which will subsume 7-13 taxes, will help end corruption as traders will be compelled to give proper bills and the consumer will be the "king".

"It will also help reduce the problem of black money and lead to generation of jobs by benefitting the small traders and entrepreneurs," Modi added.

Noting that the GST bill had been firmed up after thorough "churning of ideas", Modi "humbly" expressed happiness that it was being passed through an unprecedented consensus of parties.

He said he had held consultations with his predecessor Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the issue.

"Rashtra Niti (national policy) is above 'Raj Niti'(politics)....I thank all political parties, as also state governments run by different parties. We are taking such a decision.. we have reached here after churning in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, 29 states, their representatives and 90 parties. We are putting a stamp on the final decision," Modi said.

Underlining that the development marks the "recognition of One India" and strengthens this concept, Modi said that we are aligning ourselves with a new taxation regime and the GST is a new 'moti' (bead) in this 'maala' (necklace)."

He coined the GST in a new manner -- 'Great step by Team India', 'Great Step towards Transformation', 'Great Step towards Transparency'.

Responding to Congress' contention that GST was its idea being implemented by the NDA government, he acknowledged that all political parties and previous governments had contributed to making of the bill.

In this context, he quipped, "janam koi de, lalan palan koi kare. Krishna ko janam kisne diya, bada kisne kiya? (somebody may give birth, but someone else may nurture. Who gave birth to Lord Krishna and who brought him up?)"

At the same time, he said, "we do not have 'guroor'(arrogance) that his bill is the perfect one" even though "so many brains have made an effort which will have results"