Budget Only Beginning, I Did Whatever I Could Do: Arun Jaitley

NEW DELHI:  Brushing aside criticism of not having done enough reforms in the Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said this was the beginning of the journey and he did all he could do under the given circumstances.

"This is the beginning of our journey, not the end. Abhi hum jitna kar sakte the, humne utna kiya hai (Whatever I could do now, I have done). And all the decisions are not taken on day one," Mr Jaitley told

Mr Jaitley, who presented his maiden Budget on July 10, is being criticised, especially by rating agencies, for not repealing the retrospective tax amendment and not providing enough sops for the industry.

The Minister, however, has provided relief to the salary earners by sacrificing Rs 22,200 crore in direct taxes. Refuting the criticism, he said the government has taken important steps which are necessary but not taken in the past 10 years.

"Each one of those major issues, whether it is insurance or real estate, defence, retrospective tax, simplification of tax administration, transfer pricing (were important). So in 45 days, we have tried to address each one of them and then we have given impetus to the manufacturing sector.

"These are important decisions. Our government is very clear in some sector you got to give more relief. Aam aadmi par aap kitna bojh denge? (How much can we burden the common man?). So, that is why we tried to rationalise individual taxation. We have also removed inverted duty structures," Mr Jaitley said.
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