WEF: India to focus on reviving investments, stablilise tax regime

DAVOS/SINGAPORE: Aiming to start 2016 with a bang, the Narendra Modi- led government is focusing on reviving private investments and boost economic growth through additional measures. Pitching the India story to foreign investors on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made a compelling case for stepping up investments in the infrastructure space. He exuded confidence that reform measures like GST that were stuck in parliament would go through as the numbers in the Upper House will change favourably soon.

“We are asking people from all over the world to become partners in India’s infrastructure growth story”, Mr Jaitley said. In the days to come India will have to focus on reviving private investments, he added. Focusing on reforms playing a key role for states in India, Mr Jaitley said: “We used to talk about cooperative federalism but I am happy to see now that states are competing with each other to attract investments.”

Mr Jaitley also highlighted the progress made in the railways, defence and other sectors. “In railway infrastructure, we have allowed private sector participation and the next they are going to raise funds through bonds etc. Next, we are going to modernise the train stations and these are the causes that have been welcomed by the country,” Mr Jaitley elaborated. He also spoke about indigenous manufacturing in the defence sector and expressed optimism about the prospects of India’s plans in this area.

Tax Reforms

Speaking about stabilsing the tax regime in India, he stressed on how India is changing its taxation laws towards greater stability and predictability in the tax regime and trying to settle the disputed that were pending previously .
“It has been our effort in India to gradually transform and change most of our taxation laws, put to rest various disputes and issues which have been pending, and make sure that the scope of discretions is eliminated and there is a greater degree of stability and predictability as far as taxation laws are concerned,” Mr Jaitley had earlier told an international conference on January 20 in Singapore on “Doing Business Across Asia: Legal Convergence In An Asian Century”.

“One major step needed to increase the ease of doing business is to reduce inter-state variation and the barriers to inter-state trade,” Mr Jaitley said. He was referring to India’s states in a video message in the first such global conference on legal issues.

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