Jaitley lists 14 govt reforms that helped ‘expand economy’

NEWDELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday outlined 14 “iconic reforms”, including taxation reforms, anti-black money measures, Aadhaar, demonetisation and Ayushman Bharat that he said helped the Narendra Modi government to turnaround the economy in less than five years.

“The economy expanded at a rate faster than any other country in the world. Our revenues went up and we ensured that the benefit of prosperity and the first right to the exchequer going to the poor is maintained,” he said in his latest blog.

High tax rates and harassment by the taxman had dissuaded people to come into the tax net. The government followed an ideal tax policy of simplification, non-interference, lower rates and higher collections in its five year because of which the number of assessees filing returns jumped close to double in the five year period, he said.

He blamed the 10-year- rule of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for accumulation of huge non-performing assets (NPAS) of public sector banks. “The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code [India’s bankruptcy law] changed the debtor-creditor relationship,” he said.

Due to Aadhaar, beneficiaries of all government programmes now get their benefits in bank account directly without any pilferage, he said. Jaitley said demonetisation as a “significant step” towards formalisation of the Indian economy that compelled people to deposit their high currency cash into the banking system.