 "Restarting growth, investment cycles top priorities: Jaitley")
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said that NDA government had managed to bring back investors, who had been disillusioned with India. Restarting the growth and investment cycles are still the top priority for the government, he added.
Saying that the 5.7% growth in GDP was encoraging, Jaitley added that the full effect of government's decisions will be felt gradually.
The government had taken firm decisions on defence and insurance, he said, adding that the NDA goverment was looking to open up more sectors to investment. He said he hoped the amendments to the insurance bill will be passed in the next session of Parliament.
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Jaitley said that the government had an ambitious disinvestment agenda, which will be rolled out in the coming days. He also said that FY15's fiscal gap target of 4.1% was achievable.
On SC's coal block ruling, Jaitley said that the government can't allow the fate of the blocks to hang in mid-air. The Supreme Court, which had pronounced all coal block allocations since 1993 illegal, will decide tomorrow if these blocks will be cancelled.
Trying to allay investor concerns, Jaitley said that there was no scope for retrospective legislation on taxation. He added that government was working to form a larger consensus with states on GST.
While saying that inflation had moderated, Jaitley said that the monsoon challenge was not over. Containing inflation was still a priority, he added.
On PM's Jan Dhan Yojana, he said that 2.14 crore new accounts have been opened so far.