Government committed to fiscal discipline: Arun Jaitley

The Dollar Business Bureau Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister, Government of India, has said that thanks to several initiatives taken by the government in the last 7-8 months, the economy is back on a recovery path. Making his opening remarks during the Pre-Budget Consultative Meeting with economists in New Delhi, Jaitley said that inflation and external fronts under control, and macro-economy stability has improved. “Growth deceleration has bottom out and the revival has started,” he added. Jaitley said that the Indian economy registered higher growth in the first half of the current financial year at 5.5% as compared to last year’s 4.9% in the first half, and 4.7% for the full financial year 2013-14. He added that the government is committed to fiscal discipline, and with the sharp decline in international oil prices and the focused attention from the government, the Current Account Deficit (CAD) is also within the comfort level. Various suggestions were received from several economists for consideration of the Finance Minister while formulating the budgetary proposals for the Union Budget 2015-16. Economists have suggested that the government should focus in increasing domestic market demand as the overall global economy growth remains sluggish and uneven. Earlier this year, while speaking to the representatives of Trade and Industry, Jaitley had said that there is a lot of distance to cover in these sectors. He said that the government is working on improving India’s ranking on the ease of doing business index, and added that the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is expected to improve the tax administration regime and ensure smooth flow of goods. The export sector in India has urged the government to remove of duty on petroleum products imports under advance licenses, expedite payment of duty drawback and central excise rebate claims, and incentivize manufacturing firms in exports, among their recommendations for the Budget 2015-16.    

This article was published on January 14, 2015.