Corporate India came together on Saturday to mourn the demise of former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
“As Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs during 2014-2019, he personally laid the foundation for landmark reforms and greatly strengthened macroeconomic fundamentals.
The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) under his leadership of the empowered committee represented a historic transformation of India’s indirect tax system. GST has streamlined tax payments and is an outstanding success within two years. Equally, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, financial sector policies, and amendments to the regulatory systems added immensely to the economic framework,” said Vikram Kirloskar, President, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in a statement.
“Always attuned to industry concerns, Jaitley gave a patient hearing to businesses with a solution-oriented approach. He particularly reassured overseas investors and was a brand ambassador for the strong India development story,” Kirloskar added.
“We were fortunate to have travelled alongside Jaitley different parts of the world to share perspectives on the growth agenda of the government and to talk about the many investment opportunities in India. The passion with which he addressed the investor community in many of these programs that FICCI organized clearly reflected his deep desire to take India and our economy to a pedestal where we could be counted as a developed and a happy society where ease of living could be felt by people from all walks of life,” said Sandip Somany, President, FICCI.
In a press statement, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Rajeev Talwar said that Jaitley’s distinguished contribution to building BJP where it has risen today will always be remembered with reverence and great awe.
N Srinivasan, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, India Cements Ltd, said,"Arun Jaitley’s passing away leaves a void difficult to fill. Not only was he a great lawyer, successful Finance Minister, he also through his abiding interest in cricket been a stalwart of the BCCI for over two decades. A personal friend, I shall miss him." Srinivasan was also a former President, BCCI and the ICC.