Arun Jaitley
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said inflation was under control, and expressed confidence for achieving a fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent.
A day after steps to contain the widening current account deficit (CAD) and check fall of the rupee were announced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday continued his two-day review of the economy as he took stock of tax collections and macro-economic indicators in analysing performance of different wings of the finance ministry.
After the meeting, Jaitley exuded confidence of surpassing the 7-7.5 per cent GDP growth target projected in the last Budget presented on February 1, meeting capital expenditure targets, surpassing tax collections projections and exceeding the record Rs 1 lakh crore target of revenue mobilisation from government stake sale in PSUs.
Addressing the media after PM Modi's review meeting on economy, Jaitley said: "PM expressed satisfaction with regard to broad parameters in relation to the economy and the macro-economic data which is so far emerging, for this year."
"Government is confident that it will have a growth rate higher than what we had projected earlier this year in the budget. The inflation is broadly under control," the finance minister said.
Adding that GST was settling down, Jaitley said, "With the kind of pickup in consumption which has taken place, it will have an impact on GST collection in future months and we are confident that between direct and indirect tax collections, govt would comfortably meet target."
