Bad Bank Proposal Taken On Board, Says Jaitley
Arun Jaitley says proposal to set up a bad bank will be contemplated upon.
The Centre has taken note of a central bad bank proposal in the Economic Survey 2016-17, but it does not want asset reconstruction to become a “government issue”, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.
Answering a question on whether a Public Asset Rehabilitation Agency (PARA) can be set up, Jaitley said, "The Economic Survey always carries ideas for discussion and eventually implementation. Even if you cannot do it immediately... we take that suggestion on board.”
The government unveiled a policy and has seen a lot of companies and investment coming into the asset reconstruction sector, he said.
“And while it is happening, we don’t want a situation where it eventually becomes a government issue and the whole thing has to be supported out of the budget. Let that sectoral activity which has expanded, move on,” Jaitley said, adding that the central bad bank route was “a possible solution”.
The Economic Survey had recommended setting up PARA to take over large bad loans from public sector banks, which have been dealing with the non-performing asset (NPA) pain for quite some time now.
Meanwhile, a senior finance ministry official also told reporters that the government was mulling the possibility of setting up an asset reconstruction company.
Working On GST Rules By March 31
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia told India Inc. that the government hopes to complete the process of finalising goods and services tax (GST) rules and laws by March 31, 2017. He said the effort will be to try and keep the new tax rates under GST closer to the prevalent rates.
“…There are four slabs, the present incidence of VAT plus excise duties or VAT plus service tax. Whatever is the incidence, the slab closer to that is the slab where it will fall,” he said.
There are a few items which fall under the exception list and the GST Council will take a call on it, said Adhia.