Political realities to weigh on economic decisions: Assocham

New Delhi, Dec 17: While the new GST regime has not gone down well with traders and with major states going to the polls in 2018, India Inc needs to factor in the political realities weighing on economic decisions of the government, industry chamber Assocham said on Sunday.

A day ahead of the results of the Gujarat elections, an Assocham release said that corporate India’s expectations on tough reforms, like on labour laws, “should be muted” since these may not go well with the public at a time when elections are due in many states.

“Any tough reforms, like flexibilities in labour laws, may not go well with popular sentiment and thus India Inc’s expectations on this front should be muted”, the industry chamber said in a note based on its interl assessment.

“In the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, states including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Kartaka are due for polls in 2018. Inevitably, it would be the popular voters’ sentiment that would be factored by the Centre and state governments in their policies,” it said.

Assocham, however, also said that an important fallout of the current politico-economic environment is that the Goods and Services Tax is expected to be further streamlined and rates further ratiolised on the lower side. (IANS)