Highlights of Finance Minister’s opening remarks at the Press Conference addressed by him in the National Capital on the occasion of completion of one year of the present NDA Government.

This one year shows the direction in which this Government is working under the leadership of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.When the present NDA govt came to power a year ago, there was a general environment of gloom . That has been now replaced by hope and excitement. Though we are growing at the range of 7 to 8 %, yet there is a restlessness to grow even faster to achieve the real potential of India. Prime Miinster has visited eighteen countries and India has been able to get a prominent place in the global arena. Decisiveness, even in the face of obstructionism, has been a hallmark of this government. Decisions are being taken in the direction which augment growth and promote development. There is transparency in Governance. Initiatives undertaken in sectors such as power, coal and mining are noteworthy. Governance should be on the basis of principles and not personalities. In the UPA Government’s time people felt that the decision making process of Government of India was controversial and discretionary that even investors were prosecuted at that time. That air has been now cleared by bringing transparency in Governance of the present Government. We are in the process of creating history by bringing about the most important Indirect tax Reform through the implementation of GST. Our priorities in the next session of Parliament will be the passage of GST and Land bills. High taxation rates are never investor or economy friendly. The Government has taken measures to bring Direct taxation rates to globally competitive levels. We are working in the direction of resolving legacy issues plaguing taxation. A major highlight of this Government is to give a corruption free administration .Government was able to strengthen the federal structure of India, by focusing on cooperative and competitive federalism. Overwhelming support of regional parties clearly demonstrates the attitude of the Central Government towards the state. The government has been able to contain the fiscal deficit at 4% as against the target of 4.1% for 2014-15.Management of the fiscal deficit and quality of that deficit were much better during the last one year as compared to UPA Government , as there was no hidden fiscal deficit. Important parameters like fiscal and current account deficits, growth rate, revenue figures, etc have both improved and stabilised Government has a clear roadmap for the coming year. The abuse of investigative agencies is now a thing of the past.. Highest ever disinvestment receipts in a single financial year. The Government raised ₹ 24,277 crore through disinvestment during 2014-15.Laws to squeeze black money have been introduced in Parliament.In the last quarter in March the NPAs of the banks have started reducing . In the coming years, government will increase spending in irrigation and rural infrastructure. The new insurance schemes launched by the Government have been highly successful .India is an highly unpensioned society, only 11 % of the population have pension.Atal pension Yojana is a great step towards helping the unpensioned sections of our society.The MUDRA Bank initiative is expected to finance to 5.77 crore small entrepreneurs in our country.Every department has been working overtime in this last one year. It has been a directional year and that too at a very fast pace.