Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said the government will find resources required to support the banking system, which is the lifeline of the economy.

Speaking at the Indian Banks' Association's 70th AGM, the minister said whatever the solutions required to support the banking system, the government would back them.

This observation comes in the backdrop of public sector banks needing capital to not only provide for their huge bad loans, but also meet their capital requirements under the Basel-III capital accord.

'GST implementation smoother than expected'

PTI adds: Jaitley said the implementation of the new taxation regime, GST, was going smoother than expected in the initial phase.

The decision-making mechanism at the top between the Centre and the states has been “reasonably institutionalised” and the mechanism created to address day-to-day issues is robust, he said.

”... these are early days of the implementation of the alternative taxation system. It appears to be so far going on smoother than expected,” Jaitley said.

He said the number of people coming under the network itself is now likely to expand gradually.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was implemented from July 1 this year. It brings the economy under a uniform tax regime.

India’s GDP grew slower at 5.7 per cent during April-June — the lowest in three years of the Modi government, while lagging China for the second straight quarter — as manufacturing slowed ahead of the GST launch and note ban impact lingered.

Jaitley had recently attributed the lower GDP numbers to pre-GST de-stocking of goods and expressed the hope that the economy would grow at 7 per cent, saying manufacturing has bottomed out.

On demonetisation, Jaitley today said it was a conscious effort to alter the saving and spending pattern of Indian society, which was largely cash dependent.

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