Investments set to rise significantly in coming days: Jaitley

Banking on the steps taken to revive the domestic economy in last seven months, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday investments are significantly going to move up in coming days.

"Government has taken a lot of steps in past few months and the mood about India is very positive. I see investments significantly moving up in days to come," he said on the sidelines of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in Gandhinagar.

Government priorities, he said, would be to spend more on infrastructure, incentivise expenditure in manufacturing to help boost growth and create more jobs.

He added that a common goods and services tax across the country will be implemented by next year.

The government last month introduced the GST Bill in Parliament.

Appreciating the steps taken by various state governments to hold conferences to attract investment, Jaitley said, "the issue of growth and development has to rise above politics. . . it is great sign for Indian democracy."

He further said that the decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and stable policies would help the country in attracting foreign investment.

"In order to attract investment, you should have a stability of policies, your direction must be clear and the pace of moving in that direction must be reasonably quick," he added.

In democracies, he said, "it's always the prime minister who has the last word.

“The prime minister must be decisive and willing to take consequences of whatever he decides.

“You cannot create structures outside the government which have the ability to overrule the prime minister."

The minister said he wondered why the National Democratic Alliance government was being criticised for taking quick decisions.

"The biggest criticism I have seen in the last one month of our government is why have you taken decisions so quickly.

“You should have waited till the cows return home, till the opposition decided to allow the Rajya Sabha to function.

“Why are you resorting to a faster means of taking decision.

“In fact, that's mean criticism," Jaitley said.

Quick decisions in the right direction, he said, were intended to convey a message to global investors that India cannot stop growing ‘if one House of Parliament takes some time to settle down and start functioning.’

He said this in reference to functioning of Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA does not have a majority. Because of political reasons, the working of Rajya Sabha remained disrupted during the Winter Session of Parliament.

Jaitley further said that time has come to get out of the traditional mindset of branding policies as ‘pro-industry, pro-business, pro-economic activity or just pro-poor.’

It would not be possible to alleviate poverty without promoting growth and raising resources of the government, he added.

Stressing that India needs investments for growth, Jaitley said the NDA government has succeeded in ‘stopping the reverse journey of investment leaving our shores and going outside. . . something which was happening in last three-four years.’

In last seven months, the government opened several areas of investment such as insurance and defence, he added.            

Criticising the retrospective tax amendment of the United Progressive Alliance government which scared away investors, Jaitley said ‘the present government is determined to have a perfectly non-adversarial tax regime.’

The NDA government has assured the investors that it does not believe in the idea of retrospective taxation and has no intention of using that provision to raise revenue, he said, adding that it does not favour aggressive tax regime.

The ministry, he said, is trying to set up mechanisms like advance ruling for domestic investors to give greater stability to the tax regime.