New Delhi, July 07: The Government today assured
industry that it will not roll back the tax cuts announced in
the stimulus packages and its high market borrowings of around
Rs 4 lakh crore will not dry up resources for the private
sector.
"I have no intention of rolling back (tax cuts given
in stimulus packages)... No doubt I have taken a risk. A risk
of leaving fiscal deficit of 6.8 per cent, which is perhaps
the highest ," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in his
interaction with industry chambers, CII, Ficci and Asshocham.
The Finance Minister also said that he would strive to
bring down high fiscal deficit of 6.8 per cent of the GDP
projected for the current fiscal to 5.5 per cent in the next
fiscal and four per cent in 2011-12.
"Therefore, I myself and my colleagues in the Finance
Ministry have undertaken a strenuous job that in the next 7-8
months, we shall have to do a lot of work so that we can reach
this target in 2010-11 and 2011-12," Mukherjee said.
High fiscal deficit will force the government to
borrow around Rs four lakh crore from the markets this fiscal,
which many fear would crowd out private sector investment, an
apprehension that led to a crash in stock markets yesterday.
It is this fear that Mukherjee allayed today.
Bureau Report
