Certain factors preventing India from reaching 8% growth: Arun Jaitley

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Even as the Congress and the Opposition have put the Parliament in a log jam over the passage of GST Bill, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Tuesday that certain adverse factors were preventing the country from reaching 8 percent growth.

Certain adverse factors are preventing India from reaching 8 percent growth, Jaitley said in the Lok Sabha.

India's GDP had grown by 7.5 percent in the Q4 of 2014-15, 7 percent in the Q1 of 2015-2016 and 7.4 percent in the Q2 of 2015-2016.

Industrial output had grown 9.8 percent in October, a five-year high on year-on-year basis.

However, the finance minister was confident that the fiscal target of 3.9 percent in the current fiscal year would be achieved.

Fiscal deficit target of 3.9 per cent this fiscal will be achieved without cutting expenditure, he said.

Jaitley also batted for early passage of GST bill and urged the Congress leaders to think what "legacy" they would be leaving behind by bloking the passage of the bill.

Parliament should not send a message that it is obstacle to reforms, the Finance Minister said.

He also informed that the government will soon issue notification making PAN mandatory for cash transactions over Rs two lakh.