FM Arun Jaitley at ET Awards: Thinking of past obsolete, PM Modi's young cabinet has new ideas

NEW DELHI: Emphasising that that the thinking of the past government was obsolete, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for getting a young brigade of ministers, who do not have a 'baggage of the past'. "PM Modi is an inspiration for the entire team. The young Cabinet does not carry a baggage of the past," Jaitley said.

Delivering the keynote address at the ET Awards for Corporate Excellence 2014 function, Jaitley said that the new cabinet, with younger minds has fresh ideas to take the economy forward. "It is important to learn from the mistakes of the past. In our system of governance, government has to be decisive," Jaitley said. "We want to get governmental discretions out of the way," he said.

Stating that India has an obvious growth potential of 8%, Jaitley lamented that in the past few years growth had plunged. "Growth had dipped and dipped quite low. In the last few years, the system was not very sure who had the last word."

Jaitley sought to assure India Inc that the 'horrific past' is behind us. "Taxation regime of the past government scared global investors away. Taxation regime under previous government gave us a bad name on the international stage," he said. "We have assured investors about the tax regime; we will not have retrospective taxation," he added.

"None of the measures on tax taken in the past will help me raise more taxes. We will have a very serious look at whether we should pursue a cause that brought us a bad name," Jaitley said. "Previous government took erroneous steps that led to fiscal deficit going up," he added.

Talking about the power sector, FM said, "In the past few years, the entire power sector took a hit, Coal India took a hit. Ideas of commercial mining have come about; ideas cannot be stalled, they can only be delayed."

Jaitley spoke extensively of the need to have a 'shared vision' of growth for India, where there is no room for obstruction. "Just because you are now not in the government does not imply that you will be obstructive. We need to stop having a mindset that wants to obstruct," Jaitley exhorted.

"PM works overtime; the ministers are compelled to work overtime. PM Modi had the courage to say that in order to reform India you need to reform Railways," Jaitley said.

Speaking of his government's initiatives, Jaitley said, "We have to assure investors that manufacturing in India will be competitive and cost effective. We de-linked diesel to the market."

"Land Acquisition Law has many flaws. We are looking at the Land Law, I have no problem with farmers getting compensation." "Land for national security also requires multiple clearances. There is need to have a fresh look at the Land Acquisition Law," Jaitley stressed.