Speaking at an Assocham event, Modi said the recent cut in corporate tax has brought rates to all-time low for businesses, adding that labour force should also be taken care of.
Modi said his critics were seeing slowdown in the last two quarters but were ignoring that the BJP government had brought down inflation from 10% to 2.5%.
Jaitley said a very large number of reforms have taken place over the last few years and that has helped in restoring the credibility of the Indian economy
'Look at the number of billionaires, the number of new billionaires in India.' 'Adani and Ambani are not the only ones.' 'What's wrong with people making money as long as it benefits us?'
'One of the biggest issues the Indian economy faces right now is of job creation...' 'The nexus between growth and employment has to be closed...' 'In the absence of a manufacturing expansion, the alternative is to have the service sector as the driver of both GDP as well as employment growth.'
'The economy needed 3 or 4 major fixes. The major one was, of course, the direct tax structure, but we ended up complicating the existing convoluted tax structure,' says M R Venkatesh, chartered accountant and lawyer.
There have been demands from a section of stakeholders that the long-term capital gains tax on equities be reimposed.
The battle on creating jobs is virtually lost. If the battle for achieving higher growth too is lost, then its political consequences could become difficult to manage, says A K Bhattacharya.
India Inc is encouraged by a determined Budget.
'Genuine mistakes can and must be forgiven,' argues Vivek Gumaste.
'The IAS officers are after the rich people, the IRS officers are after the middle class and the IPS officers are after the poor. This is the new varnashrama created by the bureaucracy.'
'We have the more difficult reforms to do such as the reduction of subsidy, the insurance and pension sector reform, eliminating bureaucratic red tape and implementing Goods and Services Tax'
Initially it will procure only e-rickshaws and e-autos for leasing to operators
Sinha, a former finance minister, hogged the limelight and started trending high on social media on Wednesday morning, after he criticised his own government for sinking the economy, in an article he penned for The Indian Express.
'Being a Delhi girl, I challenge you to fight the last two phases on the issues of demonetisation, GST, women security and the false promises you made to the people of the country'
Modi said the ease of doing business ranking improved because the government initiated reforms to end difficulties in the lives of people.
Six months into his new role, Vishal Wanchoo, president and chief executive officer, GE, South Asia, speaks to Jyoti Mukul about how its horizontal business lines of additives and digital are playing across its verticals.
The Rajya Sabha approved 15 legislations during the session while the Lok Sabha passed 23 bills, including the GST bills.
At present, the NMP states a series of fiscal incentives, including tax sops, will be offered but only to small and medium enterprises.
'Through the use of technology, the GSTN will tip the balance in favour of compliance rather than tax evasion, lowering the barriers for entry into the tax payment system while making it much harder to cheat on payments,' says Nandan Nilekani.
The Budget sets out a comprehensive vision.
'Fear psychosis has gripped the entire world.' 'Nobody is going to enter shops freely in the next 5, 6 months.' 'Secondly, the priority has changed.' 'Now that they have seen the bottom of the economy, people will prefer to save for tomorrow.'
The government should set up agricultural co-operatives in every cluster of villages and in respective districts on a war-footing within a time limit. We should involve the services of our military personnel who retire at a young age with several years of working life still left in them and would be happy to contribute to nation-building, recommends Atul Gupta.
While good news from several quarters has been trickling in, El Nino might be a dampener, says T N Ninan.
A glance back at some important events that occurred in 2018.
Taking a jibe at Yashwant Sinha, the finance minister said that he doesn't have luxury of being former finance minister.
Some experts had said the Budget did not have much in terms of big ideas.
He said the government has already begun implementing tax reforms.
A combination of reduced cash intensity, a focused strategy of tax administration and GST is the way to go, say Sakshi Gupta, Tanvi Garg and Abheek Barua.
However, independent economists are not as gung-ho as the finance ministry over the likelihood of deficit target being met this time around, says Indivjal Dhasmana.
The government has provided a long-term vision.
Rahul reiterated that there was massive corruption in the Rafale deal.
Chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian discusses the Budget, goods and services tax, Centre-state relationship and larger issues facing the economy
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh interacts with readers on Rediff Chat as he discusses the period that changed India's history, forever.
Rejecting criticism of jobless growth, he said if state after state is creating good number of jobs, how can the Centre be creating joblessness?
Against a turbulent and uncertain background, Budget 2017-18 hewed a steady, forward-looking course, says Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the government.
'One of the ways to do that is to ensure that NBFCs have got liquidity.' 'If we don't do that, this mood of gloom will continue.' NBFCs need to be provided with liquidity if they have to start lending.
The incoming government will have to encourage private investments, bring down cost of capital
'The finance minister has told the BJP's core voters we are hearing you and we are sensitive to your aspirations.'
Opposition party is unlikely to block Bills for GST, insurance and e-auction of coal mines.
