FM for tax reforms to ensure stability

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 27

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said there is a huge curiosity and interest in India especially among domestic and foreign investors.

“We can’t afford to miss this opportunity. Ordinarily everything is going in our favour including growth prospects”, Jaitley said.

He said other developed and emerging market economies such as Brazil, South Africa, Europe, Japan and Russia, among others, are facing challenging situation while India’s prospects are showing an upward trend.

He was speaking at the investiture ceremony to honour the officers of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

The Finance Minister said revenue collection which was affected due to low manufacturing in the past 2-3 years is also turning around and the government will meet the fiscal targets. He said reserves are good and current account deficit (CAD) position is much better. The Finance Minister said our currency was among the two global currencies which withstood the might of dollar in recent times.

He said in order to make the best use of this opportunity, the government has to address two major concerns, quick decision making and stability in policy matters and reforms in tax structure and administration. He said there is need for change both in attitude and mindset towards investors and assesses. He said there is a need to have a non-adversarial tax administration which is both investors’ and assesses’ friendly.