Centre to reduce small savings rate by month-end

Jaitley says Bihar poll result won’t affect investor sentiment

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday that loss in Bihar state elections will not impact the reforms process in the country.

“I don’t see it as a setback to the economy... Structural reforms will continue. They should continue at a rapid pace,” he said.

Mr Jaitley said that the government would continue the reform process by taking executive actions and also in the Budget, which would be announced in February next year.

“The poll impact won’t deter investor confidence and sentiment... I think investors are very wise people, they will see the performance of this government. They will judge us by our working style and we will provide good governance. Many reforms are with executive decisions. Those will continue. Many legisla- tive issues get passed by Parliament. In some cases, there are delays, but those will be sorted out,” he said.

On GST Bill, he hoped that Bihar, which is a consuming state, would support the legislation.

“I don’t see ( Bihar election outcome) as a setback to the economy at all. If under Nitish Kumar, Bihar grows and grows well, we have already announced economic package for the state, certainly we are going to help. Our commitment is the states which need to develop more, we have to help them more,” he said.

He said GST is a priority for the government and it will try to get it passed.

“Bihar and the JD(U) had supported this in the Lower House... If Nitish Kumar, as a responsible leader, has been elected on the plank of development, then certainly he wants more revenue for Bihar,” he said.

On whether he would talk to Nitish Kumar for supporting GST, he said, “I will speak to the new government that they should support the Bill.”

The government, he added, was open to suggestions to improve the GST architecture.

“I am for a GST with a proper architecture, not for a GST with a defective architecture. So, if there is any suggestion in the direction of strengthening GST and its architecture, I am certainly open to that,” he added.

On what should be the rate of the GST, Mr Jaitley said, “the lower the better.”

Asked about Moody's Analytics report which said Prime Minister Narendra Modi must keep BJP members in check or risk “losing credibility”, he said the commentary by a “young analyst” is incorrect.

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