NEW DELHI: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday stressed that structural reforms are a key priority of the government, as has been reflected in the slew of measures and policies announced, since the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus.
”Every policy, which was introduced, had a structural component. Consequently, the reforms are having significant impact on the recovery process, which we are currently witnessing,” she said, while addressing the captains of the Indian Industry,
Further, in order to facilitate the recovery process, the Home Ministry has given out directions to the state governments for imposing no curbs on the movement of people and inter-state movement of goods and services.
”There cannot be a better time for exemplar cooperation between the government, regulators and industry, to ensure that India comes out from the present crisis,” she added.
Taking cognisance of the fact that many sectors such as Tourism, Hotels & Hospitality, Real Estate & Construction and Airlines have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, the Finance Minister said these are critical sectors, with significant multiplier impact on the economy.
In order to ease the pain of few of these ailing sectors, the Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) for the hotels, banquets & related activities will be looked into, the Minister assured.
On the issue of strategic disinvestment, Ms Sitharaman highlighted that there was a need to move fast on Cabinet-cleared disinvestment decisions.
Regarding the private investment cycle, which got a fillip from the corporate tax cut in September 2019, investments however, could not take off due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Ms Sitharaman was of the view that in a post-COVID world, these should fructify.
”With post-COVID reset happening, emphasis has to be on adoption of data-driven manufacturing models through ploughing greater investments in these models,” she added.
On the issue of local manufacturing, Ms Sitharaman said the Productivity Linked Incentives (PLIs) scheme has met with excellent response and has helped speed up manufacturing of critical bulk drugs and APIs in six states.
On delayed payments by the government agencies, it was said that the Finance Ministry was taking periodic reviews to expedite the due payments to the industry.
Further, the Finance Minister alluded that infrastructure sector plays a key role in speeding up growth momentum, hence, to give its financing a further boost, external funds will also be welcome.
Responding to a question about the need for lowering GST rates on two-wheelers, she assured that this was indeed a good suggestion as this category is neither a luxury nor a sin good and hence merits a rate revision. Consequently, this will be taken up with the GST Council, she added.
(AGENCIES)
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