Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley expects the joint committee of Parliament studying the insolvency and bankruptcy code will submit its report by the first week of March, with passage of the reform legislation possible during the Budget session scheduled to begin February 23.
“We worked full time to draft a very effective bankruptcy and insolvency law which was introduced in Parliament in the last session,” Mr. Jaitley said on Thursday. “A joint committee is working overtime almost on day-to-day basis endeavouring to produce a report by the first week of March, which will enable” approval and passage in the coming session, the Finance Minister said.
He also expressed the hope that the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill meant for the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) would also be passed in the Budget session itself.
Mr. Jaitley was addressing the two day India Investment Summit 2016 organised by the Finance Ministry.
Inviting foreign investors in roads, highways, oil and gas, urban infrastructure and railways, Mr. Jaitley said that whenever there was a global economic turmoil in the past, India had always shown resilience, including during the period of global financial crisis in 2008-09.
“To establish the credibility of Indian economy it was important that we not only reform but continue reform only in one direction…in last 19 months we have opened gates of India for investment.”
Ahead of the start of the summit, an Indian delegation led by Mr. Jaitley held a bilateral meeting with the UAE Official Delegation led by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority Managing Director H.H. Sheikh Hamid Bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the summit. He also held closed-door discussions with several potential investors including european investment banks and sovereign funds of countries such as Singapore.
At a later session, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha stressed upon prioritising the provision of universal pension security including income security, health and life insurance and taking advantage of the large number of young people in the country who would otherwise become dependent on the State and society in the old age. He said that he believed in the philosophy to empower Indians with tools and knowledge to take ownership of their own retirement.
“It is the right time when the advantage of young India with its demographic dividend and the growing economy can be leveraged with skill development and mitigation of low level financial literacy and expanding the coverage of pension with the participation of private sector with a sense of urgency.”
Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das in his address said that the Government was committed to preserve the economic strength of the country. Outlining the structure of National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF) in Investment Summit, Mr. Das said that commercial viability would be the guiding principle of projects it will undertake. The NIIF would be the major driving force for investments in to India’s infrastructure 2016-17 onwards and can emerge as a major vehicle for bringing in foreign investment for infrastructure, he said.
Later, awards were given to the banks for their performance in the Atal Pension Yojana. State Bank of India (SBI) received the award for highest number of accounts sourced. Andhra Bank was adjudged the “Best Performing Bank in the category of Public Sector Banks (PSBs)” and Tamilnad Mercantaile Bank in the category of private banks. Madhya Bihar Gramin Bank was picked in the category of regional rural banks and Kottayam District Cooperative Bank in that of cooperative banks.
Also present at the summit were Financial Services Secretary Anjuli Chib Duggal, SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya and senior Ministry officials. Representatives of various sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and institutional investors both domestic and international, are also participating.
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