Bankruptcy Bill likely in coming Parliament session, says FM

New Delhi: Emphasising that the government is committed to reforms, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said things appear to be in the final round as far as GST is concerned while the bankruptcy Bill is expected to be taken up in the upcoming Parliament session.

Jaitley said the country needs investments, and efforts are being made to ease the business environment so that people feel attracted to do business in this country.

Speaking at a conference here, he said the government wants to reform the country's taxation system with respect to direct and indirect taxes.

"We will look to bring down the direct taxes to the global levels and on indirect taxes, we appear to be in the final round as far as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is concerned," he said.

The GST Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in May last year and is pending ratification by the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling NDA does not have a majority. The Congress is opposing the Bill in the current form and demanding that a cap on GST rate be included in the Constitution Amendment Bill.

According to Jaitley, the bankruptcy Bill is in the final stages and is before the Parliamentary Committee. "Hopefully in the coming session, it should come up for positive consideration," he added.

About the country's capital market, Jaitley said, "I would believe that there is a lot of distance to be covered" and that the dependence on foreign institutional investors is still quite large.

"I think Indian investors are savers and therefore, to persuade them to get into low-risk investment options in the capital market and creating adequate instruments for that purpose, I think we need to incentivise," he added.

Meanwhile, he also said the government is trying to introduce fairness in the decision making process as well as ensure decision-making is quick.