FM Jaitley highlights reforms undertaken by present govt. in various sectors

Addressing the Singapore Summit, an annual event of Global Business leaders focused on Asia Region organised by Government of Singapore, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the present Indian Government has made various reforms in different sectors including taxation, labour, land and skill development and power sector among others.

He said that the government has taken various initiatives to revive the stalled projects especially in infrastructure sector. The Finance Minister stressed that there is urgent need to step-up the growth as India has a potential to achieve the double digit growth.

Arun Jaitley further said that the government has taken various steps to utilise the savings from low global petroleum prices to make additional investment in infrastructure sector, especially highways, railways and irrigation.

Earlier, the Finance Minister in his opening remarks while addressing a luncheon meeting in Singapore today on 'Emerging India: Opportunities Beckons' had emphasised on the steps taken by the government for increasing investment in India and growth of the economy.

He highlighted the steps taken by the government for reforms in the banking sector, transparent and fair allocation of natural resources such as coal through a transparent and open auction system, commitment of the present Government in rolling-out GST at the earliest and Ease of Doing Business.

The Finance Minister also talked about the efforts being taken to address the problems of discoms in the power sector.

The Finance Minister Jaitley started his Singapore visit today by meeting with the Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong.

They discussed among others the issues of bilateral trade and investment relations, the recent global economic developments and their impact on both the countries and on the Asian region at large.

They also discussed the measures to increase the bilateral investment. Later, the Finance Minister also met Foreign Affairs Minister of Singapore K. Shanmugam.

Finance Minister Jaitley also met the Board of Advisors and senior officials of Temasek, sovereign wealth fund of Singapore and discussed economic opportunities in India. The Finance Minister addressed a meeting of fund managers and institutional investors. Among others, the issues relating to International Financial Services Centre, Make in India, GST, structural reforms, banking sector reforms, high interest rates in India and measures taken by the government to boost investment were discussed.