The government, which provided a four-month window to people holding black money to come out clean, has collected substantial information on unaccounted income. “A lot of information has been gathered and Rs 20,000 crore has already been tracked,” Shaktikanta Das, secretary, department of economic affairs told Hindustan Times a day after finance minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget.
Terming the budget projections as “very realistic” both from the revenue and expenditure side, Das said that the government was confident of meeting the 3.5% fiscal deficit target in 2016-17. He added that while revenue generation for 2016-17 from tax and non tax sides have been already taken into account while making the budget projections, but the additional inflow from this black money window has not been accounted for.
“This will be a bonus for the government,” Das said.
He added that the committee that will review the Fiscal Responsibility Budget Management Act (FRBMA) and chalk out a roadmap for fiscal discipline beyond 2018 will be set up in a month.
“It has been 10 years since the FRMB Act was put in place, we need to now review it especially in the wake of global volatility and also to chalk out the strategy beyond the timeframe that was given in the act,” Das told Hindustan Times in an interview, a day after finance minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget.
“On the tax front, we are hoping to clock 11.7% growth when the nominal GDP is expected to be 11%. Going by past experience, it is possible and it will happen.. on the non tax side we have the disinvestment exercise..the government has already approved the strategic sale policy ..we have revenue from dividend payments, now everybody will have to pay 30% dividend and there is Rs 20,000 crore as Spectrum license fee which is an annual affair and another Rs 55,000 crore is expected to come from auction of leftover Spectrum,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“On the tax front, we are hoping to clock 11.7% growth when the nominal GDP is expected to be 11%. Going by past experience, it is possible and it will happen.. on the non tax side we have the disinvestment exercise..the government has already approved the strategic sale policy ..we have revenue from dividend payments, now everybody will have to pay 30% dividend and there is Rs 20,000 crore as Spectrum license fee which is an annual affair and another Rs 55,000 crore is expected to come from auction of leftover Spectrum,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Das said that Budget focused on the “real problem areas” of the economy, which include the agriculture and rural sector. “It may not sound fashionable to market analysts but addressing this sector is the most urgent need,” he added.
Das also said that while Rs 25,000 crore has been provided towards recapitalization of public sector banks, the government would be open to increasing the amount. “The decision to provision Rs 25,000 crore has been taken after extensive discussions with the Reserve Bank of India,” the secretary said.