India should gradually move to single rate structure: Shashi Tharoor

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said India should gradually move towards a simplified Goods and Services Tax regime, with the possibility of a single rate structure in the future. Speaking at a real estate industry event, he noted that simplification would ease compliance and stimulate manufacturing.

Speaking at the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) NATCON 2025 Singapore event, he pointed to affordable housing, rising land costs, and large redevelopment projects such as Dharavi as examples of how urban transformation will shape investment flows and living standards in the coming years.

Tharoor also spoke on India’s economic and investment priorities in the context of current geopolitical and trade challenges. He noted that tariffs imposed by the US have hurt labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, jewellery, and seafood, leading to significant job losses. Sanctions linked to Russian oil imports, he argued, were “unfair”, given that China and Turkey continue to import energy from Russia at larger volumes.

While acknowledging Pakistan’s longstanding ties with the US military and its role as a conduit with China, Tharoor maintained that India’s scale, stability, and long-term growth prospects make it the more reliable partner. “We need investment and growth; investors don’t like war zones,” he said, underscoring that India’s restraint in regional conflicts was guided by its economic priorities.

Published on September 12, 2025