AMN / NEW DELHI
UNION Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that over the next few years, government at both Centre and States will have to focus on agriculture and rural infrastructure.
Addressing FICCI National Executive Committee meeting in New Delhi on Monday, Mr Jaitley said, the potential for growth and higher GDP really lies in these two areas. He said, infrastructure sector was lagging behind but higher government expenditure is correcting that. Mr Jaitley said, agriculture, rural infrastructure, health care and education needs higher Government expenditure.
The Finance Minister said, expectations were high to maintain fiscal prudence without taxing more and yet hiking expenditure. He said, the budget was prepared at a time when the global economy is picking up.
Mr Jaitley said, the healthcare scheme announced in the Budget is ambitious and will be implemented in the next few months.Speaking on taxation, he said, GST has broadly settled down and rationalization of GST rates will continue. Mr Jaitley said, compliance level of GST will improve with software maturity and anti evasion measures. He said that due to GST there is an impact on direct taxes and Government has made considerable headway in direct tax collection.
