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Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said his government would focus on investments in power, roads, ports, and investor-friendly and reasonable tax policies.
While crafting policies for faster growth, the government will take steps to rationalise expenditure. It does not believe in living on borrowed money indefinitely, the minister said in his address via video conference at the Mumbai Next
MMR Transformation conclave, organised by the Maharashtra government and Mumbai First here.
“The whole concept of spending beyond your means and leaving the next generation in debt to repay what we are overspending today is never a prudent fiscal policy,” he said.
The government has committed to rein in the fiscal deficit at 4.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the year ending March 2015.
Jaitley hinted at a stable tax regime to be unveiled in the Budget for 2015-16, saying no unfair effort will be by made the state and Centre to mop revenues. He is slated to present Union government’s Budget on February 28, in Parliament.
The government wants taxes to be paid wherever it is legitimate but no unfair efforts will be made for its collection. There won’t be unnecessary harassment, he added.
The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has made an effort to smoothen tax disputes and those issues which were bringing the Indian revenue structure a bad name, he said.
Describing last 10 years under United Progressive Alliance rule as a period of missed opportunity due to indecision and wrong decisions, Jaitely said a series of initiatives and policy steps by NDA government have brought India back on the radar of global businesses and investors.
He said the government has already opened insurance, railways and defence to foreign investments and will focus on investor-friendly taxation policies.
The minister said the Budget will focus on reforms in power, energy, railways and ports, and hinted at more public investment in these sectors.
Jaitley said state governments are active partners in economic growth. “The government will provide active cooperation to all states, irrespective of political dispensation, whereby states can pursue the path of reforms to move on the high-growth trajectory,” he said.
The minister said the dynamics have moved from cooperative federalism to competitive federalism. This was witnessed at the Davos (Switzerland) World Economic Forum in January, where Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh were marketing their state to attract global investors.
Mumbai is the engine driver of India’s growth. If Mumbai grows, then India grows. In recent months, we have had a spate of investment summits by different states. Maharashtra has traditionally been one of the most economically developed states. Mumbai has a powerful services sector. Maharashtra has a powerful agricultural sector. Bollywood, the cultural face of India, is based out of Mumbai, Jaitley added.
