 "Arun Jaitley")
The Rs 40,000-crore NIIF was set up in December as an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable greenfield, brownfield and stalled projects. The government is in the process of appointing a chief executive for the NIIF, in which 49 per cent is held by the government and remaining would be held by private investors.
During his meeting with global investors, the minister highlighted the second-generation reform measures undertaken by the government by way of opening up various sectors to foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as making India an investor friendly environment.
According to sources, the minister also pitched for further infrastructure investment, saying efforts were on to make India the most advantageous tax jurisdiction. Also, he said the government had followed fiscal discipline following the rule book of fiscal consolidation.
During the meeting, Japanese investors were positive about infrastructure investment, sources said. The minister also highlighted various avenues for investment, including in the renewable energy space, during the hour-long meeting.
Jaitley promised more structural and market-oriented reforms as well as stepping up infrastructure spending to accelerate economic growth beyond 7.6 per cent. He also promised to reform the tax structure to make it simpler, predictable and stable.
Speaking at The Future of Asia Conference organised by Nikkei Inc here, he said India has been the fastest growing major economy in the past two years despite global slowdown. “We had a back-to-back 7.2 per cent and 7.6 per cent growth rate in the last two years. This was notwithstanding the global slowdown which has also adversely impacted the trade in India,” said Jaitley, who is on a six-day tour of Japan to attract investments.
The country has been able to perform despite adversities in two consecutive bad monsoons and some stress in the Indian private sector, the finance minister added. “But then notwithstanding these adversities, a series of structural reforms, coupled with a large amount of enhanced public spending and a FDI, we maintained a reasonably respectable growth rate.”
Jaitley said a very large number of reforms have taken place over the last few years. “The objective has been to bring about structural reforms in India, and I think the consistency of that direction has helped in restoring the credibility of the Indian economy,” he said.
In the last two years, 101 legislations have been passed in Parliament but there remain some which require a lot more time to build a larger consensus. He expressed hope the GST Bill would be passed in the monsoon session of Parliament.
On things to come, he said, “The direction that I have indicated is of more structural reforms, more market-oriented reforms and the future direction of stepping up infrastructure spending, concentrating on rural areas and social security, I think this direction will consistently be maintained.” While India started reforms in 1991, the second generation of reforms were unveiled when the BJP-led government came to power in 2014, he said. “We have opened out more sectors in the economy. While opening out to both international and domestic investments, we removed the unnecessary conditionalities, we eased the process of doing business in India. It is far easier than what it was years ago.”
