FM reviews measures to boost GDP
Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday held a twohour review meeting with Cabinet colleagues and officials to create jobs and revive private investment. PM Narendra Modi was earlier scheduled to attend the meeting but his interaction was postponed.
Mr Modi will now take stock of the reasons for the slowdown after the finance ministry prepares a blueprint on the situation and measures to stimulate growth.
Mr Jaitley brainstormed with commerce minister Suresh Prabhu, railway minister Piyush Goyal and Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar on measures needed to arrest the decline in GDP growth and put economy at a higher track.
A key meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take stock of the reasons for massive slowdown in the economy has been postponed till the finance ministry prepares a comprehensive blueprint on the situation and shortlists measures required to stimulate growth in the country.
Mr Modi was scheduled to meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian and other top officials in the finance ministry on Tuesday evening to analyse the economic situation and explore options to stimulate the economy. The CEA had last week briefed Mr Modi on macro-economic situation.
A series of meeting were going on Tuesday in the finance ministry to look at various options to put economy on a fast track.
The Prime Minister’s Office wants the finance ministry to hold consultations with key ministries to prepare a roadmap on measures needed to arrest the decline in GDP growth.
The PMO has asked for a detailed presentation on government revenues and spending. It want the issues of poor exports and private investment not picking up to be fixed quickly.
The government is keen to address structural problems facing the economy as well as transient issues with implementation of the GST.
The finance ministry will prepare note on sectoral reasons for slowdown and action plan. It is holding inter-ministerial discussions with other departments like railways to assess the capital requirement for the year. It will be holding similar meetings with other ministries in the coming days including road transport and highways ministry to assess spending on infrastructure projects.