E-Paper
5 challenges ahead for the new ministers in finance ministry
With the exit of Jayant Sinha as Minister of State for Finance, North Block has got two new faces who will handle the same portfolio — Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Arjun Ram Meghwal. Here are some of the challenges:
With the exit of Jayant Sinha as Minister of State for Finance, North Block has got two new faces who will handle the same portfolio — Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Arjun Ram Meghwal.
Here are some of the challenges they face as the two ministers take over:
1. GST
Passage of the single largest tax reform which will subsume all indirect taxes in one levy, is the one of the top priorities for the finance ministry. The challenge for the government is to ensure that the legislation is accepted by the Opposition and passed by the Parliament.
2. Financial inclusion
Since both the ministers come have worked at the grass-root level, better penetration of reforms and access to capital to boost entrepreneurship should be their priorities.
3. Tax reforms
As the country fights legacy issues, implementation of GAAR, amendments in tax avoidance treaties, Google tax, additional levies on jewellers, dealing with old cases like Vodafone and Cairn, are key to improve India’s image globally.
4. NPAs and revival in corporate lending
High NPAs and consequential provisioning from profits against bad assets led have left the banks bleeding as losses touch Rs 18,000 crore mark. Cleaning of books and dealing with high NPA cases such as of Vijay Mallya are seen as stumbling blocks in the corporate lending to boost growth.
5. Black money
Fighting the biggest menace to kill the parallel economy was part of the Modi-led NDA government’s election manifesto and people are still waiting their bank balance to show a credit of Rs 15 lakh. Two declaration windows – for foreign blackmoney and the ongoing for domestic blackmoney have seen lukewarm response, with not much tax coming in.
