New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rated his government's one-year performance as more than satisfactory, terming NDA's quick decision-making in the face of obstructionism as its biggest strength in this period.
Jaitley reiterated the government’s commitment to the goods and services tax -- that aims to turn India into a unified common market and replace a string of state-specific levies – and a land acquisition bill that has been stalled by the Opposition in Parliament.
Addressing the media, Jaitley said his government's initiatives in sectors such as power, coal and mining shows its intent to run a transparent model for reforms, which he said is important for a country which is not ready to accept slow decision making.
The finance minister said controlling rapid inflation was an achievement of the government and added that he thought the time was right for the Reserve Bank of India to cut interest rates, which would spur growth.
"One year back, there was an environment of pessimism... there was general environment of gloom. In its place, an environment of enthusiasm has been created," Jaitley said on the occasion of the Narendra Modi government completing one year.
Asia’s third-largest economy was growing at 7.5-8%, the finance minister said, adding there is a restlessness to grow even faster, which is the real potential of the country. India, he said, "has potential to touch double-digit growth rate" provided decision-making was quick, observing it was the unclear economic policies that led to the fall of the UPA government.
The BJP rode a tidal wave of support to power last year, promising to reverse the worst economic slump the nation has seen in 25 years but investors have recently started complaining that the rate of reforms was not fast enough.
Jaitley blamed the Congress for this, saying the party had positioned itself as anti-growth and anti-development for obstructing reforms measures like amendments to the land acquisition law, which the Opposition has called “anti-farmer” for taking away a crucial consent clause from a UPA-era law. Led by an aggressive Rahul Gandhi, the Congress has repeatedly blocked BJP-backed bills in recent months, especially in the Rajya Sabha, where the government in a minority.
"A very important highlight of the government has been to give a corruption-free administration to the country. The common man has been freed from political corruption. We are reforming and liberalising, but there is no place for crony capitalism," the finance minister said.
He also promised to tax corporate profits at competitive rates and said the government would do all in its power to implement a new national sales tax on time, amid growing accusations of surprise tax claims by the government, adding that a judicial resolution was in the works.
He rebuffed the Opposition charge that the government was working for industrialists and said the NDA regime was both pro-growth and pro-development.
"Our social security programmes are going to be one of the strongest ever in this country, but certainly the policy will be one of arms-length distance in terms of decision-making from individual business houses," he said.
Here are key things that he highlighted about
NDA government's one year in office:1) Foreign policy: "Not only in India, but in the entire world, respect for India and PM Modi has gone up. Our PM visited 18 nations and interacted with world leaders, which is why India now occupies a pre-eminent place in the global arena."
2) On government functioning: "Initiatives undertaken in sectors such as power, coal and mining are noteworthy, they show a transparent model for reforms. The previous environment of gloom has been replaced by a climate of enthusiasm.
Decisiveness even in the face of obstructionism has been an important hallmark of the NDA government. There is absolute clarity with regard to which the direction in which the government wants to go. Decisions have been taken to bring in transparent and principle-based, not person-based, decisions."
3) On taxation: "India should have a tax on company profits that is more consistently applied than it is now and should bring down its effective rate to global levels. We must remove discretion, phase out exemptions and bring the effective rate down to global levels."
"I hope the Rajya Sabha would soon pass an enabling amendment that would make it possible to implement a new goods and services tax next April that would unify Asia's No.3 economy into a common market."
4) On administration and federalism: "A very important highlight of the government has been to give a corruption-free administration to this country. "
"The government has strengthened the system of federalism. NITI Aayog has been constituted as an important pillar of the government's initiative to strengthen federalism. Revenue realized through coal auctions shall go to states, an example of cooperative federalism. "
On fiscal deficit: "Management of the fiscal deficit as well as its quality is equally important. Resources for major infra projects are available in abundance, our capacity to spend them must now increase. Important parameters like fiscal and current account deficits, growth rate, revenue figures etc have stabilized."
5) On black money and abuse of power: "The abuse of investigative agencies is now a thing of the past. Will continue to squeeze black money generation by passing more legislation in coming year."
6) On infrastructure: "Resumption of work on 16 stalled projects planned for coming year. Government has decided to increase public investment in agriculture (specifically irrigation) and rural infrastructure."
7) On Banking and insurance: "Banking sector was under a lot of pressure due to the global slowdown. Appointments of executives and board members of banks have been professionalized. The new insurance schemes launched by the government have reached 7.5 crore people in a few weeks. The insurance schemes will bring the benefits of insurance to the common man."
8) On Savings: "India is an unpensioned society. Government schemes will improve upon the current pension cover of 11%. MUDRA Bank will bring finance to 5.7 crore small entrepreneurs."
