CHENNAI: Demonetisation is a temporary pain and things will return to normalcy in around two months, Deepak Parekh, chairman of Housing Development Corporation, said at the K S Narayanan Oration where he was in conversation with Shekhar Gupta, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of ThePrint on Monday.
Parekh said he believed demonetisation was not an isolated act and it was possible that now the government would go after benami transactions and bank lockers.
The dialogue covered various aspects of the world economy with a particular reference to the US now with Donald Trump at the helm.
Parekh elaborated on how the US was looking inwards and was in a conundrum riding on ‘populism, protectionism and anti-globalisation.’ The Indian economy, he said, is relatively well-placed when compared to many other economies.
Parekh said there was a need for increased competition among States not just in terms of ease of doing business but also for pointers like healthcare, education and the like.
Addressing the issue of the CBI arresting the former chairman and three other ex-officials of IDBI Bank in connection with the Vijay Mallya loan default case, Parekh said it was a ‘dampener’ and a ‘bad sign’ unless the government had absolute proof.
Parekh spoke about the need for clarity in the Income Tax Act and said that if people paid their income tax honestly, not even other indirect taxes, India would be a prosperous country.