The government is working on a new law to protect consumers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday. He added that the government was also setting up a Consumer Protection Authority to ensure that consumer issues are redressed on time.
“Today, we are in the process of enacting a new Consumer Protection Act keeping in view the business practices and requirements of the country,” Modi said at the International Conference on Consumer Protection for East, South and South East Asian Countries in New Delhi, according to PTI.
The new law will replace the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, he said.
Modi said that the Goods and Services Tax will bring down prices and benefit consumers in the long run. “After GST was implemented, various indirect and hidden taxes have ceased to exist,” he said. “The biggest beneficiaries will be consumers and the middle class.”
The prime minister believes that the government’s efforts have helped keep inflation in check.
Modi’s comments come at a time when the Opposition has been criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party for its demonetisation drive and the implementation of the GST. Earlier this week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that India was still a high-growth economy and “has been the fastest growing economy for the past three years”.
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