Govt working on another stimulus package: Finance secretary

Finance secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey on Sunday hinted that the federal government is engaged on one other stimulus package deal however he kept away from giving a timeframe.

“We keep monitoring the situation on the ground to assess which sector of the economy or segment of the population needs what kind of help at which time and respond accordingly. We keep taking suggestions from industry bodies, trade associations, various ministries and after going through their suggestions and requirements of the economy, we come out with timely measures,” Ajay Bhushan Pandey stated in an unique interview to ANI.

Pandey stated that he couldn’t give a timeframe for the stimulus package deal, however sure the federal government was on it and deliberations on additional interventions have been on.

Talking in regards to the present state of the financial system, Pandey stated that the financial system was recovering and transferring in the direction of sustained progress.

The October GST assortment has been Rs 105,155 crore which is 10 per cent larger year-on-year for the corresponding month final 12 months. This September, the financial system had additionally proven four per cent progress at Rs 95,480 crore in GST collections y-o-y. Further, the nation has seen a progress in electrical energy consumption, exports, and imports, he stated.

“September and October data shows that we have reached Pre-COVID-19 level and gone into positive territory. If we compare with the last year, the E-Way bill in September has seen year on year growth of 10 per cent and in October it has seen a growth of 21 per cent,” he stated.

“If we are able to maintain this growth for the next five months, then we can say that we can transition from deep negative zone to near-zero growth zone by March 2021. International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected India’s GDP to contract 10.3 per cent this fiscal year, revised from its forecast of a 4.5 per cent decline in June,” he added.

The Reserve Bank of India had final month stated that the financial system is prone to contract by 9.5 per cent within the present fiscal. GDP contracted 23.9 per cent within the first quarter of the fiscal, as per the estimates of the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The Finance Secretary stated the federal government has began digital invoices from October 1. On a mean eight lakh invoices have been being generated each day. It picked up rapidly and on October 30, in a single day 29 lakh digital invoices have been generated. “If we see the growth of the FMCG, auto sectors, it shows that we are going in the direction of sustained growth,” he stated.

Pandey stated, “We are analysing every sector and this is a continuous process. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, we have been continuously monitoring every sector. Whatever was required for helping migrants, vulnerable sections of the rural or urban populations, we did. When the nation was in lockdown, we gave cash to women Jan Dhan account holders in their bank accounts through DBT. We provided early instalments to farmers under PM Kisan Yojana.”

“We helped employees and employers in their EPF contribution. We earmarked Rs 3 lakh crore for enhanced working capital to MSMEs, out of which Rs 2 lakh crore has been sanctioned and amounts are being disbursed. MSMEs were also given the benefits of loan moratorium. We have given income tax refunds of Rs 1.27 lakh crores in last seven months. We have given GST refunds of Rs 70,000 crore,” he added.

He stated {that a} whole refund of Rs 2 lakh crore has been given within the final seven months. During this era, income collections have been impacted however the authorities didn’t cease or decelerate the refunds.

Ruling out the potential for any lower in GST charges in close to future throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, he stated that there’s the flawed impression that price lower boosts gross sales and progress.

“One may see the example of mobile phones. Mobile phones are attracting an 18 per cent GST rate from April 1, 2020, up from the earlier rate of 12 per cent, after the GST Council corrected the inverted duty structure. Now see the current sales figures for mobile phones. Despite the increased tax rate, their sales are up,” he stated.

“Frequent tinkering with the tax rates is not good for the economy. It also sends wrong signals to domestic industry and international investors. We have to provide stability and predictability in our tax systems,” he added.