Morning Brief: Jaitley Trashes Slowdown Talk; Push To Revive Private Investment; Flexi-Fare System Review

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.

Jaitley Defends Reforms, Trashes Slowdown Talk: Dismissing the "so-called" slowdown, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley strongly defended the government's economic management, demonetisation and tax reforms, citing robust revenue collections. "India has shown bold leadership... our leadership doesn't shiver in taking decisions," Jaitley said, defending demonetisation and the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST), while flagging the insolvency code, benami law and crackdown on black money as some of the significant steps. Speaking a day after former finance minister Yashwant Sinha's criticism of his economic management, Jaitley said the government was not scared of taking tough decisions. Jaitley cited strong direct tax and indirect tax numbers to argue against what's being described by some as a structural slowdown and not a temporary disruption due to demonetisation and GST rollout.

Spend Aggressively, Centre Tells PSEs: Amid criticism, the Union government on Thursday stepped up efforts to boost a slowing economy and asked public sector enterprises (PSEs) to perk up economic activities by spending aggressively. In a series of meetings, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reviewed the capital expenditure plans of PSEs and also met exporters and industry captains to ensure solution to problems coming in their way. “We have brought the current account and fiscal deficits down, brought rupee under control and opened up several sectors for FDI. Today PSE capital expenditure is Rs 3 lakh crore, FDI remains the largest ever and direct tax collections are 15.7 per cent more,” Jaitley said. To remove teething problems in the GST implementation, he also invited suggestions to improve the new indirect tax system and ensure the compliance burden does not adversely affect businesses, especially small and medium ones.

New Push To Revive Private Investment: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked NITI Aayog to take steps to revive private funding in the big-ticket sectors. The think tank has been tasked by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to seek opinion from all ministries on giving the public-private partnership (PPP) model greater push to propel larger private funding in infrastructure projects in the identified sectors. According to sources, the Aayog has initiated deliberations with all stakeholders on the PPP model. Their views will be included in a Cabinet note which is to be prepared on PPP, with the aim of making it a significant policy initiative. While private investments have been flowing in, for the past several quarters now there has been a downward trend. According to a survey conducted by a media publication, fresh funding by the private sector in the financial year 2016-17 grew at the slowest pace since 1992.

Indian Railways To Review Flexi-Fare System, Says Piyush Goyal: The central government will review the flexi-fare system introduced in premium trains last year, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. “We are holding discussions to review flexi-fare system in a way that passengers do not face inconvenience and the Railways are also able to meet its revenues. There are chances of a few changes in the flexi-fare system,” Goyal said. The Railways were also planning to reset its timetable by reducing the travel time for 600-700 trains through rescheduling and increasing speed, he said. The Railways introduced the flexi-fare scheme in September last year in Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains, under which 10 per cent of the seats were sold at normal fare. The fare was increased thereafter by 10 per cent for every 10 per cent of the berths sold. The highest fare was 50 per cent more than the normal price of the ticket. Minister of State Railways Manoj Sinha said the government was not considering any hike in the rail fares at present.

India Ranks High On List Of Best Country For Expats: India moved up in the global rankings by 12 places to take the 14th spot in terms of best country for expats to live and work in, a survey by HSBC said. “Driven by strong ratings across a range of economic, experience and family measures, India shines in this year’s league table, moving up 12 places since 2016 (to rank 14 as overall best country for expats),” HSBC said. “India draws many expats for work and financial opportunities, but new arrivals here often find their family life improves significantly too,” it added. The list, which is topped by Singapore, is part of HSBC’s latest ‘expat explorer survey’ that covered 27,587 expats from 159 countries and territories in March and April this year. At the same time, the country has emerged among the top 10 countries among expats for professional development.

China Hoping India-US Bonding Won’t Hurt Regional Security: China, which is keeping a close watch on the visit of US Defence Secretary James Mattis to India, is hoping that the military cooperation between New Delhi and Washington will be conducive to regional peace and stability and not the opposite, Chinese Defence Ministry said on Thursday. “We hope that the military cooperation between India and the US will be conducive to regional peace and stability but not the opposite,” he said. The US has offered to jointly manufacture F-16 fighter jets and has approved the sale of Guardian drones to India for long surveillance missions in the Indian Ocean where Chinese ships and submarines are increasing their presence. Both India and the US also announced close cooperation in the Indo-Pacific regions. An article in the state-run Global Times on Thursday said peace is paramount for the growth of China-India ties. “Peace is paramount for the growth of China-India relations, despite the border war in 1962 and standoffs that came close to military clashes in 1987 and 2017,” the article said.

Myanmar Ready To Take Back 'Verified' Rohingya Refugees: Myanmar’s Information Ministry said on Thursday that the country is poised to begin "verifying" how many of the near half a million Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh it will take back, naming land and sea points in restive Rakhine state for their return. Some 480,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine to Bangladesh since August 25, when militant attacks sparked an army campaign that the UN says was tantamount to "ethnic cleansing". Last week Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi said her country will repatriate those who meet a strict criteria set between the two countries in 1993, when tens of thousands of Rohingya were repatriated having fled Myanmar authorities. Meanwhile, at least 10 children and four women were killed when a boat carrying Rohingyas fleeing violence in Myanmar capsized in rough seas off Bangladesh, police said.

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We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!

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