Modi hard sells NDA govt's performance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he has brought many changes that looked difficult to implement in the previous regime but regretted the non-passage of GST Bill.

Modi dismissed the theory of “big bang reforms”. “When I came to the government, I used to sit with experts and ask them to define what is ‘big bang’, ‘Nobody could tell me’,” said Modi in an interview to Wall Street Journal.

“I have actually undertaken maximum reforms and have enormous task ahead of myself,” he said. He said he has taken measures to bring about ease of doing business and opened up many sectors for enhanced foreign investment.

Modi said his government has taken measures to reduce corruption and curb black money. In infrastructure sector, his government has done much more work in the past two years and enhanced rural connectivity. He, however, said one reform that will clearly provide a major impetus to the economy was the long-pending Goods and Service Tax (GST) bill, which would replace a web of state taxes with a more business-friendly national levy.