Willing to address sectoral grievances: Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre is actively addressing sectoral grievances and taking inputs from businesses to alleviate operational pressures, amid a milieu of piling inventory and slowing sales that have raised concerns of a slowdown in the economy.

“Wherever there is a need for Government to come up with facilitation and support, we are willing to hear them and respond. I’m not of the view that it’s just the automobile sector but any other sector which needs consultations, we welcome them and respond to them,” adding that she had committed to more announcements on her first tranche of measures to boost the economy.

A week back, Sitharaman announced the infusion of Rs 70,000 crore of capital into public sector banks to improve lending and enhance the liquidity situation.


Among a slew of other measures, the finance minister announced an additional 15% depreciation of vehicles purchased from August 23 till March 2020. All BSIV vehicles purchased before ending of March 2020 will be allowed for the entire period of their registration.

“As a result of my consultations with the automobile sector, I made a set of announcements in a first tranche on August 23, and the input I’m getting from the sector is that it will have a positive impact.”
On GST rate cuts, she said the final decision rested with the GST council.

Queried specifically if the country was in the midst of a slowdown, Sitharaman said: “The Government has been in consultation with a lot of sectors which wanted to come and speak to us about the various measures they expect, because in some sectors the inventory is piling and so on. Having heard them, the first tranche of announcements were made on August 23: last Friday another set of announcements were made... I will be coming back again and respond to sectors which have spoken to us and which want some relief from us.”

On job losses, the finance minister said data from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data talk about about the formal sector. “In India, the informal sector is where majority of the employment is and if there is stress there, l’m willing to hear from them.”

Sitharaman met representatives from trade and industry bodies in Chennai. She also held discussions with tax officers on means to enable prompt tax payment by businesses and moderate their reach in achieving collection targets.

“The purpose with which this meeting is held to collectively address the tax administers to make sure that tax enforcement authorities work as tax facilitators. That’s the primary objective. We want to make sure tax administrators enable businesses in compliance,”

The meeting on Sunday was the sixth such effort from the Finance Minister. “It was underlined that the tax targets are not unrealistic and the authorities need not do any overreach leading to the taxpayers feeling he was harassed.”