No Counter Freebies: Despite Congress’ Rs 72,000 Promise, Jaitley Says Will To Stick To Fiscal Consolidation Path

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley yesterday (4 March) stated that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi government was reelected in the upcoming general elections, it would stick to the fiscal consolidation path, reports Business Standard (BS).

This comes only days after the Congress announced a slew of new schemes in its manifesto that will significantly strain existing resources and might even increase the fiscal deficit instead of bringing it down.

“Irrespective of global trends our own domestic consumption is going to increase. I speak in terms of policies, I speak in terms of taxation policies for example I’m quite clear in my mind that on two issues at least we had a lot of good fiscal prudence and we brought the rates down, these are two areas, if we are in power we will continue the same glide path,” said Jaitley while addressing an annual summit of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in New Delhi.

“If back in office for the next five years, we have to set our targets clear.”

The interim budget announced on 1 February has set a fiscal deficit target of 3.4 per cent for 2019-20 and 3 per cent for both 2020-21 and 2021-22.

No Effect On IBC

Jaitley also said that the recent Supreme Court judgement that found the RBI’s infamous 12 February (2018) circular as ultra vires the Constitution will not impact the functioning of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). “The judgment is procedural and it does not impact the IBC.”

Also Read: SC Revokes RBI Circular Mandating Action In Bad Debt Cases Of Over Rs 2,000 Crore