Finance Ministry under PM will very quickly resolve uncertainty among investors:Montek

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that the Finance Ministry under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will very quickly resolve uncertainty among investors caused by anti-tax avoidance rules which were unveiled in the Budget.

In an interview to a TV channel, he said, as soon as Budget was presented, it was clear that General Anti Avoidance Rules, GAAR, is going to create problem. He said that GAAR is a larger issue and it caused lots of uncertainties among investors. He said, the government actually recognised the postponing of implementation of GAAR. Referring to the Finance Ministry’s draft guidelines on GAAR provisions, he said they have taken care of some of the problems.

On retrospective tax amendments, the Deputy Chairman said he does not think it was introduced because of Vodafone tax issue.

Replying to questions on economic expansion, he said India is likely to clock a GDP growth rate of 6.5-7 per cent this fiscal. Earlier, the government had forecast the growth rate of around 7.6 per cent.

Mr. Ahluwalia said he was for FDI in multi-brand retail sector and liberalisation of the foreign investment norms in the civil aviation sector also. He also pitched for diesel prices should be aligned with the global rates.

On Current Account Deficit which touched the highest level of 4.2 per cent of GDP in 2011-12, Mr. Ahluwalia said it would be less than the previous year.