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Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation scheme as a “frontal attack” on black money, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Aravind Panagariya on Thursday said more such actions are in store to curb corruption.
“If you are asking whether demonetisation is the last step to curb corruption, then I will say no. I think more actions will be taken, but in terms of taking action against the existing black money and also in changing the roles, and the policy regime in such a way that future accumulation of black money is also discouraged.... So we need to do both,” Panagariya told a local news channel during his visit here. Stating that he should not speculate on the actions to be taken, the NITI Ayog Vice-Chairman said the Prime Minister has to decide about this in consultation with his advisors.
“We will wait and see,” he said adding, discussions were on and hopefully some action would be seen in the Budget.
He said the Union Finance Minister had already made a commitment to streamline corporate income tax and hopefully some progress will be made in that direction.
“Some progress was made last year. Let’s hope there is more progress in the coming year. So, simplification of taxes and reduction in tax rates should discourage accumulation of black money,” Panagariya said.
Replying to a question on the changing scenario in the wake of demonetisation, Panagariya said, “There will be some impact in fiscal 2016-17 because of demonetisation. We have only four months left. In the pre-demonetisation period, we did okay and the GDP growth was 7.2 per cent. Currently, we don’t have information to access, but I can tell you, of 13 analysts and observers, 11 said the impact will be less than 1 per cent while two predicted a larger impact,” he said.
People’s support
Asked about the negative impact of demonetisation on the people, Panagariya said, “The people have been with the Prime Minister despite hardships and they are also observing that he is doing it ultimately for the good of the country.
“The black money holders are being punished. I will say, few governments had this courage to make a frontal attack on black money. The Prime Minister has, in fact, done a frontal assault on black money and people are generally supporting it,” Panagariya added.
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