india

Updated: Jun 20, 2020 05:13 IST

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of measures to revive growth and aid ease of business in the backdrop of global economic slowdown. The measures were part of the continuing reforms aimed to improve the business environment, Sitharaman said at a press conference in Delhi.

Sitharaman said the banks have decided to pass on any rate cut in Repo rate to the borrowers to address grievances of customers that banks do not pass on the benefits of rate cuts by the central bank.

Watch| Home, vehicle, other retail loans to become cheaper: Nirmala Sitharaman

“Banks have also decided to launch Repo rate-linked products resulting in reduced EMIs for housing and car loans,” she added. This would also ensure that working capital loans for industry become cheaper.

She also set a 15 day deadline for public sector banks to return documents of customers after loan closure.

“From self-certification to environmental clearances, the reforms undertaken by the government have contributed to ease of doing business and ease of living,” said Sitharaman, adding, “labour and taxation reforms were also other important reforms taken by the government .”

“Pre-filing of IT returns will make filing of returns easy. The government was also making the process of scrutiny faceless from Vijaydashmi day to end perceived harassment,” she said

Addressing a long pending grievance, she announced “simplifying of GST filing process was continuing and the government was working to remove any obstruction in the flow of GST refunds.” “Anyone found gaming the process will face tough action,” she said.

She dismissed the notion that the tax authorities under Narendra Modi government were out to harass or prosecute people as “baseless”. “We prefer a humane approach in penalty based solution instead of prosecution, I must make it clear,” she said.

She also announced a number of steps by her government to mitigate genuine difficulties of start-ups, “Section 56(2)(viib) of the Income Tax Act will not be applicable to start-ups registered with Department of Industry and Internal Trade,” minister announced, and said a dedicated cell under a member of the CBDT to address any tax issues faced by start-ups will be set up.

Also read: India’s GDP growth higher than global economies: Sitharaman