Jaitley to skip G-20 FMs' meet

Discharged from hospital, attends Cabinet meet; full recovery to take time

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, admitted to a private city hospital on September 1 for a diabetes-management surgery, attended a meeting of the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, after being discharged from the hospital earlier in the day. The minister, however, will have to skip the G-20 finance ministers' meeting in Australia from September 20.

According to officials, though Jaitley is likely to resume work from Thursday, he might take a few more days to recover fully; his condition will be monitored. Minister of State for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman would represent Jaitley at the G-20 summit in Cairns, where the leaders are expected to discuss automatic sharing of tax information and other issues, officials said.

RECOVERING MINISTER, BUSY MINISTRY

• Aug 30: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addresses press conference on 100 days of the govt
• Sep 1: Admitted to hospital for a diabetes-management surgery
• Sep 2: Undergoes a planned elective laparoscopic procedure
• Sep 2: A high-level committee on retrospective taxation formed
• Sep 3: Panel to examine unclaimed amount in small savings set up
• Sep 4: Terms of reference of the expenditure reform commission notified
• Sep 10: Jaitley discharged from hospital, attends Cabinet meeting
• Sep 20: G-20 summit of finance ministers begins; MoS for finance Nirmala Sitharaman to attend instead of a recovering Jaitley

"The finance minister may not be able to go for G-20. It will be attended by the MoS," said a finance ministry official, adding the finance minister would join office shortly.

During his 10-day stay in the hospital, Jaitley cleared some "important and urgent" finance, corporate affairs and defence files sent to him. While some officials visited him in the hospital, it is learnt, Sitharaman cleared the files that did not require his approval.

Some of the key ministry decisions announced with Jaitley's approval during the past 10 days include setting up of a high-level committee to look into retrospective taxation (September 2), setting up of a panel to examine the unclaimed amount in public provident fund, post office and savings schemes (September 3), and setting up of an expenditure management commission to suggest government spending reforms (September 4). Some of these might have been cleared by the minister before he was admitted to the hospital.

Jaitley, a key member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet, attended Wednesday's meeting after missing two before it. He was in Mumbai the week before last.

When the minister joins office, he would have to clear some pending files and speed decision-making on key issues like the goods & services tax. Before undergoing the surgery, he was in discussion with some state finance ministers to evolve a consensus on the indirect tax regime; those talks might resume. The finance minister would also decide the fate of the Direct Taxes Code. The ministry is also in the process of selecting a chief economic advisor, vacant since September 2013, when Raghuram Rajan was elevated as the Reserve Bank of India governor.

Jaitley is believed to have spoken to some candidates and could discuss their candidature with the prime minister.

According to sources, the finance minister's stay in hospital was slightly longer than expected earlier. Jaitley, who was originally expected to be discharged within a few days of being admitted and join office earlier this week, had a planned elective laparoscopic procedure for diabetes management last Tuesday.

The 61-year-old leader, a diabetic for two years, has faced health-related issues earlier, too. In an unprecedented event, he had to halt his Budget speech for five minutes due to a severe back pain and read a good part of the speech seated.