Seeking investments to boost the economy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday promised a non- adversarial tax regime as well as competitive labour laws to achieve double-digit growth rate.
He also said the government has no intention to tax people retrospectively and will make it easier to do business in the country.
“Unless we can increase our investments, make our taxation structure comparable, present a competitive labour regime, offer utilities at competitive prices, offer capital at competitive cost… (manufacturing sector will not grow),” he said.
There is also a need to relook at the Prevention of Corruption Act to ensure expeditious and honest decision making, Jaitley said, adding that economic decision making involves trial and error and has an element of risk taking.
About consumers in a global business environment, he said they are not “jingoists” that they will buy products only in their own country.
“Your market is global and this has to be the roadmap by which India has to increase the base of manufacturing and the width of our consumers. Not by slogans, but by systematically making our costs competitive to other low cost parts globally,” he said addressing D P Kohli Memorial Lecture here.
Referring to the retrospective tax amendment by the UPA government, he said: “Our taxation policy has to be non- adversarial… The present government has no intent to tax people retrospectively”.
Civil servants need to take decisions fast without having the fear of being hauled up later, Jaitley said, adding, “we need to liberalise environment” to achieve double digit growth rate. Economy is expected to grow between 8-8.5 per cent in current fiscal.
“I do believe that India’s potential today is very large, we need to grow faster. Our decision making has to be much quicker, our process of political consensus has to be statesman-like and mature. Finally, the environment of suspicion with regard to decision making has to end,” he said.
