GST established India among major global economic markets: Modi

New Delhi: The introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) has established India as one of the major economic markets in the world by removing uncertainties in the countrys tax system, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Friday.

"Before 2014, India's tax system was seen as unfriendly, unpredictable and non-transparent for the investors. But the situation is changing now. The GST has established India as one of the major economic markets in the world," he said in his address at an event organised by the CNN-News18 TV network.

Modi said that In the last 3-4 years, India has lent strength to the world economic growth as well along with its own growth and pointed out that the country that is just three per cent of the world GDP is contributing "seven times more in the growth of world economy".

"In the third quarter of 2017-18, India has achieved a growth rate of 7.2 per cent and economists say that this would further accelerate.

"India is performing well in all the macroeconomic parameters such as inflation, current account deficit, fiscal deficit, GDP growth, interest rates, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow etc. The rating agencies are revising India's ratings upward," he said.

The Prime Minister said that while India is among top three prospective host economies, in the FDI confidence index, it is being counted among top two emerging market performers. 

In the last three years, the country has improved by 42 points in the World Bank's ‘Ease of Doing Business' index, he said. 

Modi said that India has started getting membership of the bodies it had been seeking for decades such as the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), The Wassenaar Arrangement (on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies) and the Australia group.

India's influence has been rising internationally and that in the last 3-4 years, his government has worked meticulously to achieve this, he said. 

He said that India winning elections at the International Tribunal for Law of the Sea, the International Maritime Organization, UNESCO and the International Court of Justice shows India's rising influence.

Modi said India has at various big international fora including the United Nations and the G-20 vehemently raised issues which affect the whole world such as climate change, terrorism and black money. 

He said that India has given a new direction not just to its own development but also to that of the entire world. India is leading the world in solar energy revolution. 

"In Yemen crisis, other nations also sought India's help to evacuate their citizens. We safely evacuated nationals of 48 countries from Yemen along with our own citizens," Modi said. 

He said that the growing popularity of yoga and ayurveda across the world was also an extension of Rising India.

"My government is working with a holistic approach keeping in mind the aspirations of the poor, lower middle class and the middle class citizens," the Prime Minister said.