With GST, India can grow at 9%: Jaitley

FM seeks Cong support; says party will leave behind a bad legacy if it continues to oppose crucial reforms

With barely a week left for the winter session of Parliament to be over, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday asked the Congress to think about the legacy it would leave behind by not supporting the Constitution amendment Bill on goods and services tax (GST). Amid a walk-out by the Congress, he said GST would offer the economy an opportunity to touch nine per cent growth rate.

Replying to a debate on the supplementary demand for grants in the Lok Sabha, Jaitley also sought to bring on board the Left parties by invoking former West Bengal finance minister and former chairman of empowered committee of state finance ministers Asim Dasgupta.  The Left parties had given their dissent on a Rajya Sabha select panel's recommendations on the indirect taxation system. The Lok Sabha later passed the supplementary demand for additional expenditure of Rs 56,256 crore.

The finance minister said a message should not go to the world that Parliament is being an ‘obstruction’ to the reform process as he noted India is being seen as a “bright spot” when other major economies have slowed down.

“It is not difficult for India to grow at eight to nine per cent. It is not impossible,” Jaitley said.

He pegged the economic growth for the current financial year at 7-7.5 per cent, with the economy expanding by 7.2 per cent in the first half of the year. This was significantly lower than 8.1-8.5 per cent expansion the Economic Survey had projected. The mid-year analysis of 2015-16 will be tabled on Friday in Parliament, which would officially peg the revised economic growth for this financial year.

He said the best solution to poverty eradication is to grow faster, which will generate jobs and increase government resources. He said GST would help the economy grow faster.

FM ALSO SAID

• GDP growth to be 7-7.7% in FY 16
• Subdued external demand, deficient monsoon, slow private sector investment coming in way of high economic growth
• To meet the fiscal deficit target at 3.9% for FY16 without cutting expenditure
• Accuses Congress of setting ambitious fiscal deficit target and then resorting to expenditure cuts
• Direct tax collection could witness a shortfall    
• Indirect tax mobilisation has gone up
• Public sector banks facing a challenging NPA situation; a large number of loans were given indiscriminately
• NPAs at 6%, stressed assets at 6%, actual figure could be more

“Those who try to create impediments want to poverty to perpetuate. By short-sighted vision, we end up hurting the poor in this country,” he added.

He said the GST Bill can push the country's growth by one to one-and-a-half per cent.

Reaching out to the main opposition party, Jaitley said: “I would urge the current leadership of Congress also to look at the history and legacy they want to leave behind. Support these measures so that we are able to grow faster. We have more money to get rid of poverty much faster.”

He noted GST was first brought by the previous Congress-led government and was ‘unquestionably’ the “collective wisdom of everybody... But today they oppose”.  

Jaitley, who spoke in the absence of the Congress which was boycotting the House over the government’s alleged ‘vendetta politics', said he was conveying the message to the main opposition party through the Chair.

At the same time, he praised Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Janata Dal (United) leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for openly supporting the GST Bill.