Arun Jaitley talks GST, Bharatmala, affordable housing and more
At a press conference, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reiterated the government's commitment to infrastructure development, affordable housing, a strong banking sector and more. Among its plans are building 83,677km of highways in five years at Rs. 7L crore under the Bharatmala project, which will create 14cr man-days. It also approved an unprecedented PSB capitalization plan of Rs. 2 lakh 11 thousand crores. Know more.
Unprecedented PSB capitalization plan of Rs. 2L 11 thousand crore
In a major announcement, the cabinet has approved an unprecedented PSB capitalization plan of Rs. 2 lakh 11 thousand crores, said Arun Jaitley. This will catalyze private investments, help in job creation, and give a boost to the MSME sector by providing them improved market access. Jaitley said the government finally decided to take a bold step to recapitalize banks:
Average real GDP growth 7.5% since 3 years
There has been consistently low inflation and CAD, said Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg, adding India has crossed $400bn foreign reserves. The average real GDP growth in the last three years has remained at 7.5%, he said. Garg also called GST the "biggest reform" along with demonetization, which helped the fight against black money. Earlier in the day, a GST waiver was announced.
