Do not believe in living on borrowed money- Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Friday hinted at more cuts in spending so as to contain it within limits for the current fiscal, saying he does not believe in living on borrowed money.

Jaitley was addressing a gathering of industrialists and planners in Mumbai via video conferencing at the “Mumbai First” conclave organized by Maharashtra Government.

Union Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were present on the occasion.
Jaitley said that they are trying to rationalise expenditure as far as the government is concerned. He said that the whole concept of spending beyond your means and leaving the next generation in debt to repay what we are overspending today is never prudent fiscal policy.

The minister also hinted spending cuts would be over and above 10 per cent that the government has already announced to meet the budgeted 4.1 per cent fiscal deficit target which was crossed in November itself, four months ahead of the end of the financial year on 31st of March.

Regarding the taxation policy, Jaitley said that our taxation policy was not exactly investor friendly, but the government has made a huge effort to solve disputes and issues which were bringing a bad name to the Indian revenue structure in the last few months. He also hinted at a stable tax regime, saying that ‘no unfair effort’ will be made by states and the Centre to mop up revenues.

Stating that the past ten years were a decade of missed opportunities, he said the government is determined to pursue the path of reforms.On reforms, he said that power, energy, railways and ports will be high on priority for the government and hinted at more public investment into these sectors.