FM pitches for GST, land bill passage to boost investment
NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday called for passing of key legislations such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill and the proposed land acquisition law to aid a turnaround in investment.
“The latest data suggests that the investment cycle is slowly turning around and stalled projects are being unblocked at a faster pace. Passing the GST and reforming the land law will accelerate this investment turnaround,” Jaitley wrote in a Facebook post.
The finance minister’s observations come barely a fortnight ahead of the Parliament’s monsoon session that is expected to be stormy in wake of the row involving ousted IPL chief Lalit Modi that has engulfed senior BJP leaders.
The monsoon session of Parliament begins on July 21 and is scheduled to continue till August 13.
“The government is creating the conditions for greater private investment: implementing the GST and creating a common market, reforming the land law, easing the costs of doing business, and unblocking stalled projects are all measures that will improve the conditions for investment,” Jaitley said.
A select committee of Rajya Sabha is currently examining the GST bill, which aims to stitch together a common national market by subsuming a host of local levies such as octroi and VAT into a single tax. A joint committee of Parliament is currently scrutinising the land acquisition bill.
Both the committees are expected to submit their reports at the beginning of the next session.
In his comments on the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC), which showed more than half of India’s rural adults earn their living by working as manual labourers, Jaitley said the NDA government was trying to create conditions for accelerating growth to 8-10 % and create jobs.
“A permanent, formal sector, well-paid job is the best anti-poverty measure,” he said.