Govt to consider next round of action on subsidies:FM

Asserting that there has to be some element of rationalisation, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said the government may consider the "next round of action" on subsidies.

Addressing students and faculty at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs here, he, however, did not elaborate on what the government plans to do and when.
Jaitley also spoke on the additional 2 per cent surcharge on the super rich and the proposal to reduce the corporate tax from 30 to 25 per cent in phases along with elimination of exemptions.

"No government in India can be against the very idea of subsidies but there has to be some element of rationalisation. There are many people who are entitled to be subsidised and we will continue to subsidise them. But there have to be exclusions and we have started with areas which are comfortable.

"In the budget I have appealed to people who are in a higher category of tax paying classes to voluntarily relinquish their subsidies. This is the first step towards the next round of action which the government may consider," he added.