Modi's reform agenda not done yet even as India's new tax launched

New Delhi

WITH a landmark goods and services tax now rolling out across India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to turn his focus to job creation and other key economic reforms.

Further big structural steps, such as revamping India's land acquisition and labour laws, are unlikely to occur before the next national election, scheduled for 2019, as Mr Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party still lacks a majority in the Upper House of parliament.

Instead, analysts suggest that the BJP is likely to focus on creating jobs while it pursues smaller reforms, including in the areas of administrative measures, anti-corruption policies and tax evasion.

While India remains one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, employment creation was the slowest on record in 2015, with just 135,000 net new jobs in the formal sector of the economy against the 12 million esti…