Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today pushed for early passage of the GST bill which is stuck in Rajya Sabha, saying India has the opportunity to touch 9 per cent growth and appealed to Congress to think about the "legacy" it would leave behind by not supporting the measure.
He 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 not difficult for India to grow at 8-9 per cent. It is not impossible," Jaitley said in the Lok Sabha while replying to a debate on the second batch of Supplementary Demand for Grants of Rs 56,256 crore which was later approved.
He said the best solution to poverty eradication is enabling the country to grow faster which will generate jobs and increase resources of the government.
"Those who try to create impediments want to poverty to perpetuate.... By short-sighted vision, we end up hurting the poor in this country," the Finance Minister said.
He said GST (Goods and Services Tax) bill, which aims at reforming the direct taxation system in the country, can push the country's growth by one and one-and-a-half per cent.
Reaching out to main opposition party which is opposing the bill that is pending in Rajya Sabha, Jaitley said, "I would urge the current leadership of Congress party 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 that 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 Congress which was boycotting the House over 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 JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for openly supporting GST.
The Finance Minister hoped that the growth in the current
year would be 7-7.5 per cent and the fiscal deficit would be restricted to 3.9 per cent of the GDP with quality "much superior" than previous government.
The fiscal deficit target will be met without any cut in expenditure, he said, adding whatever amount has been promised to various schemes as also to the states will be given.
There will not be any difference between budget estimate and revised estimate, Jaitley said.
"With moderately good GDP numbers, fiscal deficit under control, we intend to achieve current account deficit (CAD) of 1.2 per cent of the GDP (in the current fiscal)," he said.
He underlined the need for faster growth of the country to insulate itself from the global economic crisis which is recurring frequently.
"The world has become integrated...Crisis, volatility and turmoil has become a new global norm...We have to strengthen our economy so that we become resilient to a large extent from these turmoil," he said.
Talking about various challenges, Jaitley said Indian exports have suffered because of global slowdown and reduced puchasing power of importing nations.
The second challenge, he said is with regard to deficient monsoon which has been below normal for the last two consecutive years.
"I hope the Rain God will be as kind to this government next year as it has been to the previous government," he said as he noted that Monsoon has never failed for three consecutive years earlier.
The other challenge concerns the slower private sector investment in the country, the Finance Minister said, adding when private sector investment slows down, the onus of promoting investment falls on the government.
"When there is a challenging situation private investment slows down," he said.
He said the country can take some satisfaction from the fact that it is one of the fastest growing major economy of the world but the challenge is to make India grow much faster.
