CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE OF FINANCE MINISTRY MEETS
FM SOUGHT SUGGESTIONS FOR THE BUDGET FROM THE MEMBERS
16:16 IST
This year’s first Meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to Finance Ministry was held here today under the Chairmanship of the Finance Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram. He briefed the Members about the buoyancy of Indian economy and revenues and invited suggestions from the Members for the Union Budget for 2008-09.
The Finance Minister said that overall macroeconomic fundamentals continue to be strong. With tax collections increasing at a healthy pace reflecting the growth potential that could be further harnessed and expenditure trends in the FY 2007-08 encouragingly pointing towards to the achievement of the fiscal targets envisaged under the FRBM mandated roadmap, further reforms in critical sectors and better implementation to ensure more efficient delivery of public services across all sections of society will see the India growth story sustained and consolidated over the Eleventh five year Plan period.
Shri Chidambaram said that buoyant economic growth along with efforts to improve the tax administration system has yielded rich dividends. As a result, Central tax to GDP ratio is estimated to have increased from 8.2 per cent in 2001-02 to 11.8 per cent in BE 2007-08. This increase has provided the Central Government with additional resources which are not only being shared with State Governments but are also being utilized by the Centre for meeting expenditure in the social and infrastructure sectors and for achieving fiscal consolidation. Gross Tax Revenues are budgeted at Rs. 5,48,122 crore in 2007-08.
Members presented at the meeting gave their valuable suggestions covering all sectors of economy especially the agricultural and services sectors. The Members who participated in the meeting are S/Sh. Jivabhai A. Patel, K.C. Singh Baba, Prahlad Joshi, Pusp Jain, Mohammad Salim, Tukaram G. Gadakh, P.C. Thomas,Tarit Baran Topdar, and Dr. C. Krishnan from Lok Sabha and S/Sh. Harendra Singh Malik, Rajkumar Dhoot, A. Vijayaraghavan, S. M. Laljan Basha, Abani Roy, Bimal Jalan, B.J. Panda, Rahul Bajaj and Dinesh Trivedi from Rajya Sabha. Ministers of State for Finance, Shri S.S. Palanimanickam and Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal apart from senior officers of the Finance Ministry also attended the meeting.
BSC/SS/GN-24/8
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