Even minor fiscal slippage by Centre now invited criticism: Arun Jaitley

Jaitley takes on UPA for widening fiscal deficit

Amid a debate over whether the government will miss the fiscal consolidation road map in the current and next financial years, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said even minor fiscal slippage by the Centre now invited criticism. He took on the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime for letting the fiscal deficit widen by a large margin. 

“India under the UPA had started losing credibility with large fiscal slippages, while the (Narendra) Modi government has brought down the 4.6 per cent fiscal deficit inherited from the UPA government. Even a minor fiscal slippage draws flak now," he said while replying to a debate on the state of the economy in the Rajya Sabha.

He said market had rewarded the fiscal prudence of the National Democratic Alliance government. The finance minister said there had been some impact on the economy due to structural reforms such as the goods and services tax (GST) and demonetisation, but all macro parameters were showing an uptick in growth. 

He said the government undertook structural reforms even as there was global weakness and back to back droughts. 

It was the previous regimes which started structural reforms such as Aadhaar and the direct benefits transfer, but the Modi government took them to a logical conclusion. 

The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had announced the Kelkar committee on GST, but the UPA regime had set it up. “Now you (the Congress) talk in different languages on the GST in and outside Parliament. Outside Parliament, you talk of reducing rates, but in Parliament you talk of revenues,” he said.