Ahead of the winter session of Parliament, the government is preparing to take up the GST Bill in the Rajya Sabhba. Speaking to Bloomberg TV India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley says the Congress’ volte-face on GST does not make sense as it was conceived by that party.

How do you perceive investors’ sentiment now that India has accelerated big-bang reforms through the relaxation in FDI rules?

Most investors (in the UAE) have a lot of investible surplus available. They have their priorities lined up. And obviously India does figure reasonably high as far as those priorities are concerned. Fortunately, in the last year and a half, we have consistently tried to move in one direction — liberalising the economy, continuing with the reform process. There is not a single decision which we have taken which indicates a contrarian direction.

The opportunities that we provided by opening up new sectors as well as rationalising and simplifying investment procedures is sending a good signal. Investors are not just looking at sectors like defence, railways and infrastructure — there is another opportunity available to them by becoming a part of the National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF). And I think that provides great opportunities to investors, particularly those who want to make long-term investments.

What was the interest from sovereign wealth funds?

In Dubai, I met the UAE Finance Minister. I also had close-door discussions with the investors. Some of them did invest in the past during the last (UPA) government and they didn’t exactly have the best experiences. So there are scars of the past, which are evident. And, therefore, like on taxation issues, I have the onerous responsibility of cleaning up those wounds, which we are trying to address, so that investors, who did come at that time, feel reassured to come again.

But I think the real opportunity is going to be in Abu Dhabi particularly because it is the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority which is going to shortlist the areas of investment. Abu Dhabi has already promised a $75 billion investment in India.

This UAE visit comes at a time when you have just done a very big change by opening up FDI in 15 sectors. What is the response from the investors so far?

I think we are getting positive indications. Even before we carried out that reform last week I think we had a considerable amount of discussion with investors internationally. Now there was some opening out which had taken place in 1991 and gradually some baby steps have been taken.

We have cleaned up the FDI processes. Cleaning up the FDI process means you put more and more areas on the automatic route, you delete the obsolete conditions which made investment difficult in India.

There were some sectors where there was no reason why we should not hike the FDI level. For example, rating agencies — why should you have only close-door rating agencies? You can have globally participated rating agencies.

The signal to the world has to be that your investment in India is welcomed. There is a stable policy regime. If India manages to grow at 7-9 per cent, which is something which only India can offer today and the other countries in the world are not in a position to offer, the return on this investment is going to be reasonably higher.

There is no getting away from the Bihar verdict and the fact that you are getting into the winter session soon. The big question is how far will you be able to push legislations like the GST Bill given that the Opposition is already talking about raising issues like intolerance?

I think there has to be some level of reasonableness, which has to come in the Opposition also. If you look at the ground reality of India, we are a highly peaceful society. The world is in turmoil but India is still an island of peace and social harmony. I would welcome a debate on this so-called intolerance issue.

In the past, the Opposition was not ready to debate contentious issues in Parliament.

If you are not ready to debate, then who is intolerant?

Is there a possibility of a joint session to pass GST Bill?

GST Bill is a Constitutional Amendment Bill. It can never be approved by a joint session. It has to be passed by two-third majority separately by both Houses.

Do you think meeting the April 2016 deadline will be possible in the current context?

The Lok Sabha has passed it. The day it is discussed and put to vote in the Rajya Sabha, I have not the least doubt that it will be approved. I am reasonably confident as we have the numbers on our side. In fact, elections like Bihar won’t adversely impact GST. Because I have calculated the best beneficiary of GST is going to be Bihar as it is a completely consuming State and does not produce any industrial products. Therefore, Bihar does not have anything to lose.

Consuming States benefit from a destination tax. And, therefore, for all the MPs from Bihar who say they don’t support GST…it doesn’t really make any sense. The JD(U) and Nitish Kumar have supported it in the past. I have not the least doubt that they are going to support it even now. The only point now is that Parliament has to discuss this issue and put it to vote. Once it is put into vote I have all the three supporting legislation drafts ready. The IT backbone for GST is absolutely ready. Now, as I speak to you in the month of November your question is will I be able to hit the April deadline. I don’t know when it will be passed. But GST is not an income tax. So it doesn’t have to wait for April 1.

So GST can be rolled out any time after the Constitutional Amendment Bill is passed?

It is a transactional tax. It can come into operation as soon as the constitutional framework allows it.

If it comes to the Upper House, do you think it will be passed?

I have the numbers except Congress, which is playing hide-and-seek. Nobody else is opposing it. And come April, the Congress’ numbers in the Upper House are going to further deplete and the NDA numbers are going to further increase.

How do you address to the concerns that reforms are getting delayed because Parliament is getting stalled?

Most decisions with regard to reforms can be taken executively. Many are taken in the Budget and the Finance Bill. Some requires legislations. Only one requires Constitutional Amendment. Ever since 1991, Indian Parliament has a history — some legislations relating to reforms get delayed but there is not a single example of a legislation having ever failed. The GST was born out of a Congress programme. And Congress’ volte-face on it does not make sense to me.

What’s the progress on the disinvestment programme?

There is a conscious hold back on some of the disinvestment because the global market is on turmoil. In terms of commodity and metal prices, you have unstable situation in the world. Therefore, I am not going for disinvestment only for the sake of disinvestment. I will hit a particular stock into the market when it is moving up.

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