Outlining economic road map for NDA’s second year in office, Mr Jaitley in an interview to a news agency said that maintaining speed of reforms and eliminating discretions will also be thrust areas of government.
Dismissing any perception that nothing has moved on the ground on the policy front in reviving the economy, Mr Jaitley said that view was confined only to a section of critics. He said the government proposes to roll out the Goods and Services Tax by 1st April next year.
On the direct taxes, the Minister said that the rates for corporate tax would be brought down to 25 per cent from 30 per cent over a period of four years.
The Finance Minister said the government also intends to eliminate exemptions while reducing the rate of corporate tax, though these would be retained for individual taxpayers.
Mr Jaitley dismissed suggestions that the BJP and the government have lost in the battle of perception on the land bill. He said, Congress leadership lacks legislative literacy.
Ahead of RBI’s second bi-monthly monetary policy review in June, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said he expects rate cut by the RBI. Talking to a news agency, Mr Jaitley said his expectation from RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan was the same as general expectation on an interest rate cut. The RBI has lowered its policy rate twice so far in 2015.
However, RBI maintained a status quo in its first bi-monthly monetary policy released on April 7 on fears of unseasonal rains impacting food prices.
The repo rate, at which the RBI lends to the banking system, currently stands at 7.5 per cent. The cash reserve ratio, which is the amount of deposits parked with the central bank, is 4 per cent.