At a time when reports making alarming claims on Indian economy, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the government is open to further reforms for making India a more attractive investment destination.
The government has taken various steps, including reduction of corporate tax, she said at India-Sweden Business Summit. ”I only can invite and assure that the Government of India is committed for further reforms in various sectors whether it is banking, mining or insurance and so on,” she said.
India plans to invest about Rs 100 lakh crore in infrastructure sector in the next five years. Seeking investment from global players, she said that the government is addressing challenges faced by the industry not just Indian-owned but operationalise industries which are present in India.
”Since after budget I have made sure constant interactions with the industry, understanding their challenges, and therefore, since after the budget not waiting for another budget which is expected in February 2020, we took major structure reform in the form of reduction in corporate tax. This one measure indicates how our government believes in reforms. Today I say there are many more steps we have to take,” she added.
In the biggest tax reduction in 28 years, the government in September slashed corporate tax rates up to 10 percentage points as it looked to pull the economy out of a six-year low growth with a Rs 1.45 lakh crore tax break. Base corporate tax for existing companies has been reduced to 22 per cent from 30 per cent, and to 15 per cent from 25 per cent for new manufacturing firms incorporated after 1 October, 2019, and starting operations before 31 March, 2023.
”Our step of corporate tax reduction shows how much our government believes in reforms there are many more steps that we have to take,” she said.
The government has formed a task force will come out with a list 10 major infrastructure projects by 15 December, she said. The Finance Ministry in September set up a task force headed by economic affairs secretary to prepare a road map for the ‘national infrastructure pipeline’ from 2019-20 to 2024-25 under a Rs 100 lakh crore infra plan. Such measures are the need of the hour to put Indian economy back on track.