International agencies have not acknowledged govt efforts: Jaitley

Expressing disappointment over India’s unchanged ratings, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said international agencies have not recognised efforts by the government to simplify processes and enhance ease of doing business.

“For the kind of efforts we have put in, we have not received recognition from international agencies,” he said at the Economic Editors’ Conference while stressing that the government has taken a number of steps to open the economy to foreign investment and has also simplified decision-making.

Earlier this month global rating agency Standard and Poor’s retained India’s rating at BBB-/A-3 with a stable outlook and ruled out a rating review even next year.

In September this year, Moody’s Ratings too had said a review of India’s ratings may be possible only after one to two years. India’s ranking in the ease of doing business report in 2017 also rose by just one rank.

“We are doing reasonably well despite the global economy,” Jaitley said.

When asked about the US Presidential verdict, Jaitley said everyone should respect the decision, which has been made by the largest democracy in the world.

GST

Underlining the government’s efforts to make decisions by building consensus, Jaitley further expressed hope that the tricky issue of dual control under the goods and services tax will also be resolved.

He also ruled out any move to defer the roll-out of the tax beyond April 1, 2017 and said it will have to be implemented soon as states will not have the power to levy tax beyond September 16, 2017.

Currency demonetisation

Stressing that no one has the fundamental right to deal in black money, the Finance Minister also said local purchasing power may be impacted over the next few days due to the paucity of funds.

However, he ruled out concerns that the demonetisation of high value currency will impact local demand in the medium term. “Once the replacement takes place, the current level of consumption will come back,” he said.

Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian also said though unaccounted wealth will be affected by the move, it should be seen as a “transfer of such money from the private to the public sector”.