On Friday, August 23, at a press conference in New Delhi, Nirmala Sitharaman along with other senior officers of the finance ministry announced certain measures to reverse the state of Indian economy and for the robust growth of it.

The focus of the press conference was on investment, both foreign and domestic. She announced a rollback of surcharge of both long term and short term capital gains. This was a primary focus in the last announced Union Budget.

The global GDP growth may be revised downwards from the current 3.2 per cent, Nirmala Sitharaman said focusing on the economic front.

“The Indian Economy is growing faster than the global average of all other major economies,” Sitharaman said. She said that the downturn in the economy is because of a global slowdown. She further added that as a result of the US-China trade war, a very volatile situation has developed in global trade.

Following are the important announcements from her speech:

• Restoring pre-budget position on foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), Government withdraws ‘enhanced surcharge levied on FPIs. This will encourage investment in the capital market.
• Reform is a continuous process for the government and it tops the agenda.
• Banks will pass on rate cuts by RBI to borrowers. Banks to launch repo rate or external benchmark-linked loan products.
• Banks to make home loans, auto loans cheaper.
• Centre to infuse upfront Rs 70,000 crore into public sector banks to enable the release of Rs 5 Lakh crore liquidity in the market.
• Notices, summons by the income tax department from October will be centralised: In order to address complaints of harassment on account of issue of notices, summons, orders etc. by certain income-tax authorities, On or after 1st October, 2019 all notices, summons, orders etc. by the income-tax authorities shall be issued through a centralized computer system and will contain a computer generated unique Document Identification Number.
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) violations: Not to be treated as a criminal offence and would instead be civil liability.
• Withdrawal of Angel Tax provisions for startups and their investors, to mitigate genuine difficulties of startups and their investors.
• Old BS-4 vehicles purchased up to March 31, 2020 will remain operational for the entire duration of registration.
• To boost demand for vehicles: Government shall lift the ban on the purchase of new vehicles for replacing all old vehicles by Departments.

Also Read: Raghuram Rajan Sounds Alarm Bell For Indian Economy, Says Difficult Times Ahead