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The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday urged the Congress leadership to desist from obstructing reform measures such as Goods and Services Tax introduction, which he described as crucial for accelerating India’s growth and achieving its full potential.
Never since 1991—when India’s liberalisation journey started—has Parliament rejected any reform measure and the Congress would do well not to forget this history, Jaitley said replying to the discussions in the Lok Sabha on the second batch of supplementary demand for grants.
Congress should think about the “legacy” it would leave behind by not supporting the GST measure and let not a message go out to the world that the Parliament of India was not in favour of reform process that could add to India’s economic growth. Jaitley said.
Jaitley reaching out to Congress leadership seeking support for GST was significant as it came in floor of the Lower House and in the backdrop of the ongoing logjam over the passage of the crucial Constitutional (amendment) Bill.
A Constitutional amendment is a must for India to implement GST.
An early implementation of GST—billed as the biggest tax reform undertaken by the country—could spur economic growth and add atleast 1 percentage point to the country’s GDP growth, according to Jaitley.
India could achieve its potential growth of 8 per cent if it were to fully use the planned reforms and seize the opportunity thrown up by favourable macro-economic indicators, he said.
The Lok Sabha later passed through a voice vote the second batch of Supplementary demand for grants involving an additional spend of ₹ 56,256 crore including a cash outgo of ₹ 18,195 crore.
With just six working days to go before the Winter Session comes to an end, there is growing apprehension of the session turning out into to a “washout”—a point highlighted by Jaitley himself in his recent social media post.
Earlier, in his reply, Jaitley said there was every possibility of the Centre achieving fiscal deficit target of 3.9 percent (as a percentage of GDP) this fiscal.
On banking sector, Jaitley said that the Government had already infused capital in the first batch of supplementary demand for grants. More capital infusion would be happening when the third batch of supplementary demand for grants will be introduced in February or March next year, he added.
“Also, the quality of fiscal deficit would be much superior to what we had in previous years. We will achieve the fiscal deficit target without cutting expenditures or deferring tax refunds to the next year”, he added, obliquely referring to the UPA’s strategy of cutting expenditure to meet fiscal deficit target. .
srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in
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