Structural reforms could change the glide path: Arun Jaitley

One or two public sector bank mergers in the next 12 months

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has hinted that reform measures such as the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) could possibly lead to a deviation from the fiscal road map.

“No pause but challenges arising from structural reforms (which) could change the glide path,” a research report from Morgan Stanley quoted the Finance Minister as saying at an event in Singapore.

The Centre’s fiscal deficit target for 2017-18 is 3.2 per cent of GDP. According to the recommendations of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) panel, the Centre should aim for a fiscal deficit of 2.5 per cent by