Jaitley hopes lower interest rates will sustain

November 01, 2015 01:06 am | Updated September 02, 2016 08:21 pm IST - MUMBAI:

Mumbai: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during a banking conference in Mumbai on Saturday. PTI Photo by Shashank Parade(PTI10_31_2015_000206B)

Mumbai: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during a banking conference in Mumbai on Saturday. PTI Photo by Shashank Parade(PTI10_31_2015_000206B)

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday he hoped > lower interest rates were here to stay , as inflation remained under control on account of lower global commodity prices.

"We can look back with a sense of satisfaction over the last year. The > Reserve Bank of India has also on four occasions taken positive steps as far as rates are concerned. Hopefully this movement is there to stay," Jaitley said at an industry event in Mumbai.

He also said that it was a prerequisite to keep inflation under control for a sustainable period of time and that has happened.

The falling global oil and commodity prices have created a “favourable scenario”, as India is able to save and those are being put into infrastructure creation, Mr. Jaitley said.

“Savings happen in different manner. Cost of our subsidy bills have gone down. The cess that we are increasing on oil is being used for infrastructure creation. And therefore more we save in this area our ability to invest it in the two most important areas are broadly irrigation and infrastructure. So if this >scenario continues in the next couple of years and we are able to divert saved resources into these sectors, obviously,” he added. Mr. Jaitley also highlighted that the government has taken gradual steps to increase the capacity of the banking system, mainly state run banks.

He said extra spending on roads and highways was pulling the sector out from stress, while tax measures taken by the government were easing the steel sector's woes.

The government would next focus on the power sector and focus on measures to help improve the health of the sector. All the three sectors had added to the > stressed debt levels of the banks .

Reacting to the realtors demand for addressing tax related issues, Mr. Jaitley said that Indian real estate sector cannot survive on subsidies and must survive on the strength of market economy.

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