 "No backdoor entry for defaulting promoters: FM Nirmala Sitharaman | News")
Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister in the Lok Sabha, replying to a discussion on the Finance Bill 2024
Defaulting promoters are not allowed to rebid for their own company so that we do not have them coming through the backdoor and getting it for a lesser price, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while replying on the Finance Bill in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
The union minister’s reply follows concerns raised by some members over haircuts in insolvency cases.
An integrated technology platform was proposed in the July 23 Budget for all stakeholders involved in the debt resolution of distressed companies, including the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), lenders, and tribunals, for quick, uniform, and efficient rescue of companies.
With this, Parliament on Thursday completed its Budget process with the passage of the Finance Bill in Rajya Sabha.
Keeping in line with the vote on account budget, which was passed in February, the Budget 2024 was presented on July 23, 2024. It highlights and continues the feature that capital expenditure will be sustained, as was indicated earlier at Rs 11.11 trillion, the union minister said.
“Private sector investment has been increasing since the pandemic. It is now Rs 6.1 trillion in FY23 from Rs 4.9 trillion in FY22,” she added. “High-frequency indicators in manufacturing now, such as PMI data, have been in the expanding territory for about three years. But, in the UPA era, manufacturing activity contracted for eight consecutive months in 2013. The PLI scheme for 13 sunrise sectors is bearing results, especially in telecom,” she added.
“In agriculture and allied sectors, we have not cut down; on the contrary, more is being given. Rs 1.44 trillion was the allocation last year; this time, it has gone up to Rs 1.52 trillion, which is Rs 8,000 crore more,” she said.
“In a nutshell, the Budget this year balances several overriding imperatives: growth, employment, capital investment, and fiscal consolidation. We have tried to balance all these without compromising on any one sector.”
On altering the LTCG regime, she said much has been said and much has been heard on capital gains tax. “We did receive a lot of presentations post our Budget, particularly for LTCG without indexation at 12.5 per cent. Having heard a lot of inputs from people, we brought an amendment and changed it. So the current tax proposal gives an option to taxpayers on LTCG on real estate before July 23. This is a progressive approach in dealing with inputs from people,” FM underlined.
On concerns raised over household savings, “Small savings is alone not the portfolio. People have found different portfolios which are helping them. Financial household savings today have to include other portfolios which are available to small families,” FM pointed out.
Further, she talked about the government’s approach since 2021: progressively relieving all the life-saving drugs and medicines, particularly imported for personal use, which we have particularly already exempted.
On improving the tax system, she said that income tax refund is something on which CBDT has been working in a systematic manner, and we have consistently improved our performance in the last three years. The average processing time of returns has been reduced from 93 days in 2013-14 to 10 days in 2023-24.
On STT, she said it helps bring those who spend bigger amounts into the tax net. That is why it continues; it is not for revenue considerations so much.
On GST on medical insurance, FM reiterated in Rajya Sabha, asking protesting members of the House if they have asked their state representatives to push the GST Council to take up this matter. “We may agree or disagree on a rate of taxation on a particular item. The GST Council is a constitutional body that has taken a call in their own wisdom. But to call a decision by a constitutional body daylight robbery is wrong.”
FM Sitharaman also brought up the liquor policy case in her Rajya Sabha response, asking how much loss Delhi’s exchequer faced due to that faulty policy.
First Published: Aug 08 2024 | 9:24 PM IST
