Jaitley calls for level playing field between private, public firms
NEWDELHI: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday called for a level-playing field between the private and the public sector, pointing out that the latter runs the risk of becoming non-competitive in the face of excessive regulations and outdated legal framework.
Regulations were needed when state-run enterprises functioned in a monopolistic set up, but these are now becoming a constraint, Jaitley said at a conference organized by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), citing the example of the aviation, petroleum, mining and shipping industry.
Jaitley called for a rethink by the judiciary, the CAG and the government in their mindset to ensure state-run firms do not lose their competitiveness. Attention now needs to be paid to the legal regime governing these firms, he said.
“Post-1991, we started delicensing and opened out sectors to the private sector and a large number of cases went beyond private sector and opened up to foreign investors. Now, in sectors where there are public-sector players and private sector players the environment for functioning of the two is entirely different,” Jaitley said.
“One’s transactions are audited by you and others are not. NEWDELHI: People who file tax returns should more than double to 75 million by end of March 2019, as compared to those who filed tax returns as of end March 2014, finance minister Arun Jaitley said.
Greater formalization of the economy on account of implementation of the goods and services tax, steps taken to curb black money such as demonetization and introduction of a stringent black money Act and greater use of technology have helped in increasing tax collections and expanding the taxpayer base during the tenure of the National Democratic Alliance, he said.
One has to give contract purely on tendering, others need not. One can go to the campus to do direct recruitment, others have to hold and examination and settle for the next best,” he said.