Centre aims to make India 3rd largest economy by 2025: Anurag Thakur

Union government is determined to make India the third largest economy in the world by 2025, said minister of state for finance and corporate affairs, Anurag Thakur, on Sunday.

He was addressing a press conference after attending an interactive session with representatives of industrial and trade organisations.

The session was organised by income tax and GST departments in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industries, Chandigarh. Thakur said the objective of the two-hour interaction was to understand the views of stakeholders and take their feedback on various policy and procedural issues.

Thakur said the Centre was addressing legacy disputes in the Indian taxation system by implementing the one-time “Vivad se Vishwas” scheme which would resolve pending tax disputes, with a provision for waiver of interest and penalty. He added the initiative is expected to resolve up to 90% pending cases.

Terming banking sector reforms as a priority of the Union government, Thakur said that in 2014, banks were in bad shape with poor asset quality. He said this has been reviewed, and recapitalisation of ₹63,000 crore of the ₹ 70,000 crore has already been undertaken, with four public sector banks to be out of the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework soon.

Highlighting the central government’s commitment to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), Thakur said the one-time settlement policy has already been framed for their support .

Speaking on the occasion, principal chief commissioner, income tax, North-West region, PS Puniha, said the country was moving out of the era of profits from non-compliance to an era where people are ready to comply with tax regime, which gets rewarded.

On improving compliance by tax payers, Punia said the “Vivad se Vishwas” scheme was a one-time scheme for settling old litigations going on for many years.

Member, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Prabhash Shankar, and member, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) John Joseph, were present at the session.

Stakeholders from trade and industries included members from PHD Chamber of Commerce, Beopar Mandal, MSME associations of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana Chamber of Industries. Members from chartered accountants’ and Bar association of Chandigarh were also present.

The Union minister also chaired an interactive session of eminent people from various fields including academia, industry, fine arts and media, in the city last evening, with an aim to optimise efforts for betterment of people, economy and society.