Don't see Narasimha Rao as India's economic messiah, says Arun Jaitley

NEW DELHI: In comments that will likely touch Congress' raw nerve, finance minister Arun Jaitley said today that former PM PV Narasimha Rao wasn't the economic messiah people believe he is, that the UPA neglected productivity, and the post-independence Nehruvian model led to no development whatsoever.

"That (Nehruvian) model of development was the reason India couldn't get up to a growth rate of even 1 percent in those early decades," Jaitley said in Mumbai at a discussion on the Good and Services Tax regime.

"The Nehruvian model did not help development. Less than 1% of the population had a phone. Other countries were developing, India wasn't, that was the model of development we were following, and there are some people who actually praise that model," the finance minister said.

About Congress Prime Minister Rao, widely seen as the initiator of economic reforms in the country, Jaitley said that any changes he made in the economy were out of compulsion.

"The reforms in 1991 were due to bankruptcy ...otherwise he was conservative," Jaitley explained.

Stressing on taxes, Jaitley said his government can think of a lower tax regime only when more and more people pay taxes. "If you take money from banks, learn to repay. And if you want lesser taxes don't evade it."
The finance minister said tax evasion and moderate tax rates cannot co-exist. "Evading taxes mean aberrations in tax structures," he added.

Elaborating on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' program, the finance minister said it isn't just an empty slogan.

"Manufacturing is where mass jobs are, that is why Make in India is not just a slogan," Jaitley said, according to ANI. About the state of India's public sector banks, Jaitley said the Centre is working to strengthen them.

"The future path needs to be paved by the Centre and State, then its implementation," he added.