Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)

Mangaluru, Jan 12: Union minister of commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday January 12 said that demonetisation will ensure cleaner economy and boost GDP growth in the future. She also said that with the view to take action against black money stashed abroad, agreements have been signed with various countries including Switzerland to share details of foreign bank accounts held by Indians.

Addressing an interactive session on demonetisation at Hotel Ocean Pearl here, Sitharaman said, "After the elections, our first priroty was to flush out black money. The Supreme Court had ordered the previous government to form SIT to take care of black money but the Congress failed. But when BJP came to power, the SIT was formed. There was suspicion that black money would go out from India and come back into India as investment funds. There are countries where you need not pay taxes so profit can be made, and this way, the money automatically turns white. This round tripping was consistantly happening. BJP also took initiative to tackle this and negotiated and signed treaties with Mauritius, Singapore and Cyprus. Due to this agreement, we are sure that the round tripping would be cut off.

"We have also negotiated with Switzerland and signed an agreement to share every information on Indian account in that country. From 2018, data will be given so that we can officially take action," she added.

Explaining the purpose behind demonetisation of high denomination currency notes, she said, "The prime objective behind the move to demonetise high value currencies was to stop terror funding, remove counterfiet currency and flush out black money. Clearly the objective of the government has been to contain black money and to bring the economic activity under some authority. Failing to track transactions and preventing the money from going into wrong causes, be it drugs, arming of naxals etc needed to be contained, and therefore the step was taken."

She further said, "This decision means you are removing 86% of the currency from the market and it needed to be refilled at least to some extent. When there are lacs of banks and ATMs which had to be refilled, then naturally the impact of demonetisation was felt during cash withdrawals. The biggest challenge was to deal with the removal of currency notes and replace them as much as possible immediately. The time gap between withdrawal and refilling was the issue.

"We had given 50 days' time to deposit the legimately earned 500 and 1,000 rupees notes, if it was not dissproportionate to the person's income, then there was no question to be asked, but if it was unbelievably disspropotionate then questions had to be asked. So the government had to come up with newer conditions as per the ground report regarding malpractices. When the money which was given to distribute was not reaching the people and getting diverted even at the bank level, the government ensured that the wrongdoers were caught and seized the money. After this decision we expect a cleaner economy, and GDP growth is also expected to rise," she said.

MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said, "On November 8, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of high value currencies, owner of Vardhaman Hotel and the priest of a temple showed full support to the Prime Minister's decision. During Mann Ki Baat programme, the Prime Minister himself applauded the support given by the people of Mangaluru."

Nalin Kateel also applauded bank officials who had a tough time during demonetisation and worked for long hours without creating any problems to the customers. "Even training camps have been conducted by banks to make Belapu village digital. So far, 100 villages have been identified in Dakshina Kannada, and by March 31, the entire district will be digitalized," he said.

During the interactive session with the audience, to a question on people wanting to discourage Chinese products in India, Sitharaman said, "No matter how much ever public opinion may bear on the ministry, it is not possible to ban every import from a country. It is just not possible."

"What is possible is to impose anti-dumping duty. Where we are taking enough steps in this regard. When we know if there are sectors that are really getting hit or if there is enough data available from the industry that the Chinese export cheap goods, then we impose anti-dumping duty to make the goods expensive and take action to stop such goods from entering the country. If the goods are poor in quality, we stop them," she explained.

When asked about the choas in the last Parliament session, she said, "It is absolutely discouraging to see people screaming and the speaker requesting that asking question is the right of every member which cannot be stopped. Prior to the Parliament session, business advisory committee meeting is held to discuss how to run the Parliament and we come to an understanding before entering the Parliament. But once you enter, the whole understanding vanishes and members start violating the session. As a citizen, it is disheartening to see the Speaker trying to convince members in vain. You are not supposed to hold placards but still see members holding them. Members make every possible noise screaming, but I totally disagree that the blame falls on the speaker."

On the occasion, Sitharaman also released 'Aakriti 2016-17', the yearly magazine of Vikas PU College.

Chairman of Vikas Education Trust and former MLA Krishna J Palemar, Trust advisor Dr Ananth Prabhu G, BJP district president Sanjeeva Mathandoor and Uday Kumar Shetty and others were present.

Nirmala Sitharaman visits Sri Krishna Temple

Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (HB)

Udupi, Jan 12: Union minister of commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday January 12 paid a visit to Sri Krishna Temple and sought blessings from Sri Vishweshatheerta Swamiji of Paryaya Pejawar Math.

Speaking to mediapersons regarding GST Act, she said, "Finance minister Arun Jaitley is very keen to roll out Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act by April, 2017. The ministry has been doing its best to meet the deadline."

Speaking about US President-elect Donald Trump’s statement that US would strengthen its ties with Russia and China, she said, "The business ties of US with these nations will not affect India’s ties with the US. Even during Obama's administration, we had two hectic dialogues on commercial ties. India will strengthen its bilateral ties with the US in the IT sector and pharmaceutical industries.

"We are confident about fulfilling our commitments globally as well as locally. 'Make in India' will enhance local industries. Our relationship with the US will continue to grow stronger during Trump's regime too," she said.

Speaking about the foreign trade policy, she said, "Foreign trade policy is being reviewed. The reviewed policy will be announced by September this year."