As the Parliament begins its Monsoon Session on Monday, the Congress party is hopeful of the passsage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in a “meaningful” manner.

Passage of bills is, primarily, the responsibility of the government and in the last two years, Parliament has passed more Bills than the previous 10 years put together, said Anand Sharma, Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. “We have been a responsible Opposition. We hope that the government meaningfully addresses our concerns on the GST Bill,” he said.

Sharma said that the Congress party has proposed a few amendments to the Bill and is meeting with the government on Friday. He said that the party has flagged concerns on the capping of GST rate and the government is likely to convey its views during the meeting.

Next in line is the 1 percent surcharge that the party is opposed to. Sharma said this surcharge will make GST rate high and unaffordable. He added that the bill also lacks clarity on dispute resolution mechanism.

Sharma asserted that the Congress never said that it will oppose GST Bill, adding, there should be a dialogue between the government and the Opposition. The party hopes to come to a consensus on the Bill at the meeting on Friday.



Below is the verbatim transcript of Anand Sharma's interview to Shereen Bhan on CNBC-TV18.



Q: We are given to understand that the former parliamentary affairs minister Mr. Venkaiah Naidu has called both you as well as Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad. The market is interpreting all of this to mean that perhaps there could be some headway on the GST. What can we truly expect?



A: There have been context from the government that's true. The former parliamentary affairs minister Venkaiah Naidu spoke with me and Ghulam Nabi Azad but so is the finance minister and the present parliamentary affairs minister.



The government has proposed a discussion with the principal opposition party, the Congress. We have accepted the offer and meeting maybe scheduled for tomorrow. There are issues which have to be addressed.



We had flagged three issues - 1) capping of the goods and services tax (GST) rate. The government has its own view which they will convey to us as to how they will address it, so that it is not left to the arbitrary determination of the executive of the date to tinker with the GST rate. There has to be absolute stability and certainty about it. 2) there is issue of 1 percent surcharge, which we are strongly opposing because it will be incremental and it will actually make India's GST rate very high, unaffordable and we hope that the government will see merit in what Congress party is saying and 3) there is still no clarity on the dispute redressal mechanism. It's a major constitutional amendment, for the first time after independence we are bringing about a paradigm shift when it comes to taxation, the manner in which the duties are levied or collected and the distribution between the centre and the states.



Q: If I could ask you and this is going to be something that will be up for discussion when you meet with the government tomorrow but on the issue of capping the rates, we are given to understand that there could be some degree of flexibility while it may not be as part of the bill but it could be attached as part of the rules. What is your understanding, what has been communicated, if anything by the government?



A: The government is not accepting this proposal so far for what we know and what has been conveyed to us of capping it in the constitution amendment bill. We have to look at the alternate proposals that the government will be making to us. One thing is we are absolutely clear, there is no purpose will be served by capping it in the rules or in the subordinate legislation because the rules can always be change by the executive of the day. Therefore, we would like a firm legal ring fencing of the GST rate and we hope that tomorrow\\'s meeting will help us to address this issue both the government and Congress party and to have more clarity.



Q: Would it be fair to read this current situation as a step forward between both the Congress party as well as the government in its efforts to try and push the GST bill through. If I were to pick up on the conversations that we have had with the government as well as with the leaders of the Opposition and the previous session and the conversation that we are having today, it seems like there is more convergence in comparison to the previous sessions. Would that be accurate, would that be a fair statement?



A: That should be a fair assessment but let me also tell you that the previous session and the sessions before that, if there were standoffs, it shows the confrontation is mindset of the prime minister and his cabinet; berating the opposition, blaming the opposition for everything and they did not take any initiative for a constructive engagement.



You cannot engage with the Opposition only for the passage and non-passage of one bill. We would like to make that clear. We are the original authors when it comes to reforms and the GST bill. Congress party never said that we will oppose the GST bill; none of my colleagues ever said it. If there were legitimate concerns in a democracy then there should be a dialogue and negotiations between the government and the opposition. We hope that we will move in that direction because earlier talk of isolating the Congress in recent weeks at the level of the Prime Minister and finance minister, we were clear that that was misplaced bravado and that was not a correct approach. Such an important constitutional change should only be through a broad based national consensus if there is no backing of a national consensus and if there is a division on this issue that will not be in the long-term interest of the country or the economy, we surely would like India to have a GST which genuinely creates a common market and brings down the burden both on the producer that is the Indian industry and the consumers and make our industrial produce more competitive globally by bringing down the transaction cost.



Q: Of the three demands that the Congress party, the government seems to be most flexible at least as far as 1 percent interstate tax is concerned but as far as capping of the rate is concerned, you spoke of the possibility of an alternative mechanism being suggested by the government to the Congress party. Has there been any indication of some sort of an alternative mechanism that the government has put forward to the Congress on that particular issue?



A: The government is aware that Congress party is very firm when it comes to legal ring fencing and I hope that in tomorrow\\'s meeting the finance minister and the parliamentary affairs minister will make some proposal from the government side for the Congress leadership to consider.



Q: Let me ask you this very plainly. It is the long session of parliament. The monsoon session which starts on the 18th. How confident or how hopeful do you feel today about the possibility of the passage of the GST bill?



A: Primary responsibility is always with the government at the end of the day, as you know. But as far as we are concerned, we have been more than constructive. The present parliament in the last two years have seen a passage of more bills than the previous 10 years and that is a statement of fact I am making. If today, insurance bill is a reality, insolvency bankruptcy law is a reality, it is primarily because there is a responsible opposition party in the Indian National Congress. Earlier, for years and years all these things was told and I would like to remind, because public memory is short lived that if India, until now could not have a GST, then for seven years, it was Shree Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister and the BJP who opposed. Now, that is a story of the past, we are not a party which believes in partisan’s standoff. We had concerns which we had registered with the government. Hopefully, the government will meaningfully address them and move things forward.



Q: That is good to hear and as you pointed out, there is a crucial meeting tomorrow between the Congress as well as the government to try thrash out the contentious issues on the GST. We are also given to understand that the government may want to press ahead with introducing the bill as early as the first week itself perhaps even on the first day of the session. Do you believe if it is a successful meeting tomorrow, we could see that happen?



A: That is for the government to say because we do not know what the government’s plan is. We are not privy to that.



Q: You are also part of the parliamentary committee that is looking at several other key economic legislations which could be up for passage in this session, the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) bill, the Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT) bill, can you take us through where things currently stand on that front and how soon we could expect forward movement on either?



A: The committee has been working in a very focused manner and there have been long sittings. Not one, we had three days session of the committee where we met with the RBI governor, SEBI and heads of various banks and other stakeholders. I think we met almost 54 stakeholders here in Mumbai. We had a meeting just day before yesterday and we are scheduled to meet again early next week again. In fact, on the first day of the session itself. So, we have taken it forward and I am sure that this committee will complete its work. Like the insolvency and bankruptcy code, that parliament joint committee completed the work in record time and the parliament passed the law.



Q You are making a fair point that we have seen significant legislation being cleared and of course, that has happened with the support of the congress party as well. But let me ask you this. Do you believe that we could see the passage of both the SARFAESI bill as well as the DRT bill in the monsoon session itself?



A: Yes, we are very keen for the earlier alignment of SARFAESI Act and the recovery of debt due to banks, that act with the insolvency and bankruptcy law so that there are no overlapping areas or contradicting areas.



Q: That is another important headline that is coming in from you. I would also like to understand what could be the other crucial issues that the Congress party intends to raise in the monsoon session. The parties like the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) have said that they intend to raise issues related to the opening up of foreign direct investment across sectors. What would be the key issues that the Congress intends to take up in the monsoon session?



A: What you have just said, we also have our concerns a manner in which they have bypassed the Cabinet committee on security which was permitted earlier for the FDI in defence and deleting one important conditionality that was on access and acquisition of state of the art technologies. We fail to understand what prompted the government to do this and defence is a strategic and sensitive area. It stood opened up for FDI in defence and we are for it. At the same time, the Cabinet committee on security oversight, scrutiny and approval is a must.



Similarly, for the acquisition of brownfield pharmaceuticals, if this condition of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) scrutiny and approval was put in, it was done with a purpose, because there was a spate of takeovers of critical manufacturing capacities of the country in oncology for one, in injectables for another and there was a realisation that very few were left. So, though we allow 100 percent FDI during our time also, we allowed in Greenfield pharma as well as in the brownfield. But for the brownfield, we have put come conditionality so that there was scrutiny and where we felt that monopolies were being created and the country’s own capacity in critical areas will go. And that is where the care and caution was there.



More importantly it is for everyone to understand that a country which is a global leader particularly in generics, we have limited capacities when it comes to oncology and injectables.