Sitharaman

will spend ₹1 lakh crore in the next five years. And the task force for this has already listed out the items for big ticket expenditure.”

The FM pointed out that while the GDP figures for the last quarter came out for the period ending September, the government had announced a range of measures in that period and subsequently, indicating that its impact would be seen now. “There are concrete figures for what has happened in October and November. With public banks reaching out, and even private banks getting involved, nearly ~5 lakh crore has been given after following norms to those who take credit, across 400 districts. This is money reaching people directly for consumption in the hinterland.”

The other way, Sitharaman said, the government could channel money was through the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT), to farmers and small and medium scale industries, and this was happening too. “So for giving stimulus and consumption, we are adopting a direct method. And also the method we are spending on infrastructure, whose spillover can go to core industries and labour.”

When asked if there will be more such steps, a guarded FM said, “If I say yes, it will be when. If I say yes, it will be thrown to me that are you not too close to the budget? So I don’t want to say yes, although I am wishing I can say yes. At the same time, I won’t say no because we are working on more.”

To a question on whether the government was thinking of a rationalisation or reduction of personal income tax rates, which would leave more money and thus boost demand, the FM said that it’s “one among the many things we are thinking of,” suggesting that people should wait for the budget.

On the debate on whether the government is open to breaching the fiscal deficit in order to boost expenditure, or would prefer sticking to the target, the FM said that she would rather reserve her comments on the issue. “Technically, nothing stops from me doing it. But will I do it? I can’t stay now.”

But she added that she was not opposed to it “in principle”. “Fiscal discipline is a law. I have to to obey the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. I have to follow the glide path given to me from 2014, if not 2004. I have to confine myself to that glide path, even if it is strictly difficult. But that is a law and I have to obey it. That is one story. But there is another story. Learned economists are all telling us you can pause on fiscal discipline, and move towards funding for stimulus and bypass the law. It is all being discussed.”

The economic slowdown has got reflected in the dampened consumer and business sentiment. On the former, the FM said that she had, for the last three months, asked every interlocutor what could be done to boost consumer sentiment and was open to suggestions. “I don’t want to believe I know it all, or that I have done it all. And I want to know what else can be done.”

But on business sentiment, Sitharaman spoke in detail about the steps which had been taken, particularly in the realm of taxation. Within this, the first element was to reduce harassment and ensure a more taxpayer-friendly system. “The effort to make taxmen understand that there are ways to achieve the same end - obtain more credible information from a tax assessee — rather than appearing to breathe down their neck and leaving them to feel they are being harassed. This effort had started much before me, during the time of my predecessor (the late Arun Jaitley), who I respect immensely and whose absence, I can’t say how much, I feel. During his time, the effort (started) to explain to taxmen to understand there is no reason to harass.”

The FM said she was now physically going to (income tax) circles. “I am meeting officials and telling them that even if you feel that targets cannot be met unless you strain yourself, I would rather you not strain and pressure tax assessees. ”The move to technology, she added, where assessees can now answer to the system, and further information requirement can also happen on a faceless method will also help.” It has started on direct taxes and we have extended to indirect, Gst-related queries.”

Second, the FM said she had also come up with a scheme for cases which have been pending for long. “If, by December 31, you tick certain boxes on the enquiry , we are willing to settle the cases and try to get you out of the court and get us out of the court.”

Third, the FM appealed to assessees to directly approach her office or that of the revenue secretary. “We assure you that if have a problem at the ground level, without revealing your identity to the concerned circles officers, we shall make sure your problem is addressed.”

But finally, the FM said that in the long run, their aim was to simplify the entire taxation structure, and ensure that there are no ifs and buts in it, because that is where subjective interpretations come in. “We want to remove ifs and buts, remove exemptions. We proved our intentions when the corporate tax rate cut was announced. We said give us the least you can...that will be the philosophy with which every tax would now be framed. We are moving to a simplified and, therefore, exemption-free, therefore subjective interpretation-free, and therefore harassment-free regime.”

The FM also spoke of three sectors which have gone through stress in recent times. The first was real estate, where Sitharaman referred to the government’s special scheme of ₹ 25,000 crore to ease the crunch in the sector, where unfinished projects across the country. “By 15 December, money will go into escrow account to complete their projects. I want to assure homebuyers in the lurch that we are fully seized of the problem.”

The second was the crisis in the non-banking finance companies (NBFCS). The FM said she had extensively held consultations with NBFCS. While analysing how the lines between the functions of public sector and private commercial banks, and those of NBFCS had got blurred, leading to the troubles, she mentioned her one-line guiding principle. “I don’t want anyone falling off the cliff. And that is the extent to which we are watching them but not getting in their way.” Building on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks at the summit on Friday that bankers should take decisions without fear, the FM added that the government would not enquire into commercial decisions even if it results in commercial failure and there would be no “fishing expeditions”. The FM spoke of encouraging more agriculture exports by recognising the products in demand in markets outside and focusing on them and providing better infrastructure, especially storage facilities tuned to specific needs. The FM also acknowledged there was a debate about the trade-off between low food prices, which helped consumers but had potentially adverse consequences on farm incomes, and high food prices, which harmed consumers but had the opposite implications for farmers if market distortions did not creep in.