A border adjustment tax (BAT) should be levied on imports to provide a level-playing field to domestic industries, according to NITI Aayog member VK Saraswat, who recently stressed on the need to identify reforms that can be immediately undertaken. He was addressing a virtual event organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

BAT is a duty that is proposed to be imposed on imported goods in addition to the customs levy that gets charged at the port of entry. Saraswat said various taxes like electricity duty, mandi tax, clean energy cess, royalty etc lead to escalation of price and offer imported goods a price advantage in India, he pointed out.

Talking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Atmanirbhar Bharat vision, Saraswat said advocating self-reliance should not imply that India will embrace isolationist policies. "I think many people think that we are going back to the old era. They are wrong. We have to be global but we have to have a supply chain which is more local," he was quoted as saying by a news agency.

Saraswat, a former chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, said India is over dependent on everything including ventilators. "We have to invest in infrastructure... We must minimise our dependence on others for raw material and semi-finished goods," he stressed.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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