The Modi Government is in favour of trade facilitation as it increases ease of doing business, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday. The statement follows severe criticism globally of India’s refusal to ratify a World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation deal last month at Geneva.
India is not opposed to the Trade Facilitation Agreement but wants its adoption postponed till there is “satisfactory” progress on finding a permanent protection for its minimum support prices to farmers against the WTO’s agriculture subsidy caps that are benchmarked to food prices of the 1980s.
“Trade facilitation will not only bring ease in doing business in the country but will also reduce the cost of doing business,” Mr. Jaitley said delivering the key note address at the inauguration of a two-day annual conference of senior customs, central excise and service tax officials here on Monday.
Speaking on the occasion, Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das said that in the Budget last month the Finance Minister had announced that the 24X7 customs clearance facility is being extended to more air and sea ports. The Budget, he said, also laid focus on the simplification of procedures, rationalisation measures and ensuring that the Revenue Department plays a non-adversarial role.
"Indirect taxes collection target achieveable"
The Finance Minister also said that though the indirect taxes mop-up target for the current financial year are challenging they are achievable. The target is set at Rs 6,23,244 crore, or 25 percent more than last year’s collections. Mr. Jaitley said that indirect tax collections took a hit as the last few years were somewhat difficult for the economy with modest overall growth and a deceleration in the manufacturing sector growth.
He said that the Modi Government is focused on improving areas of manufacturing and infrastructure to spur growth for which it has taken a series of measures both inside and outside the Budget process. Further, he said that the performance data for the manufacturing sector in the months of June and July this year is encouraging and if the trend continues for a few more months it will constitute a pattern.
The Finance Minister also asked the officers to work as facilitators for tax payers but at the same time act firmly in cases of revenue leakages or tax evasion. He stressed upon the need for reducing tax litigation so as to unlock the money held-up in pending cases.
Mr. Das also said that the growth in the indirect tax collections during the April-June quarter was modest at 4.5 percent, but it is noteworthy that it was 13.5 percent in the month of June.
