Finance Minister Jaitley promises a reformed Budget
Budget will focus on reforms in power, energy, railways, highways and ports as priority
Mumbai: Describing the last 10 years as a period of missed opportunity, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday hinted at more reforms for economic growth and said no to higher levels of government borrowing.
Ahead of the Union Budget, scheduled for February 28, Mr Jaitley said it will focus on reforms in power, energy, railways, highways and ports as priority items.
Claiming a series of initiatives and policy steps by the NDA government have brought India back on the radar of global investors, Mr Jaitley said, “This is an opportunity we cannot miss”.
The government has already opened up insurance, railways and defence to foreign investment and will focus on investor-friendly taxation policies, he added.
Hinting at a change in the current tax regime which, he said, was unfair, he said, “Our taxation policy was not exactly investor-friendly. In the last few months, we have smoothened tax disputes. I believe that taxes are to be paid but no unfair effort will be made so that investors are unnecessarily harassed.”
He was speaking at the Maharashtra government event “Mumbai Next” to transform Mumbai into a world-class city. Mr Jaitley said the 4.1 per cent deficit target would be met and there would also be more cuts in planned expenditure and added that new models of financing would have to be explored.