Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Speaks Out

CHENNAI: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the Government is moving towards a direction where the law does not look at business enterprises with suspicion.

She also said the industry and government should jointly work together to take the country’s economy to $5 trillion. Details on page

Delivering the Nani Palkhivala Centenary Celebrations Lecture, organised by the Palkhivala Foundation here, on “Road Map to $5 Trillion Economy”, the Finance Minister said her earnest attempt is to decriminalise matters concerning the Companies Act or other related laws, and also cited Tata Group Head N. Chandrasekharan’s speech in Mumbai on Monday where he had said government should trust its own citizens.

Stressing further on the trust factor, Sitharaman said the government’s intention is not to distrust business houses and the road to $5 trillion economy will be much easier with mutual trust.

She also said that a suggestion has been made in the last GST Council meeting to revise the tax rates once a year after due consideration.

Queried on the credibility of public data, she said changing the base year for calculation has been done by governments earlier tooand blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this is not acceptable.

She also dismissed the allegation that Modi does not respect institutions as “absolutely unwanted”.

According to her, the banks have been asked to reduce their non-performing assets (NPA) on regional levels.

She also said while targets have been given for tax collections so that there is no slack in revenue collections, officials have been asked not to harass tax-payers. (IANS)

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