Time for consolidation of reforms initiated in 42 months: NITI Aayog

Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Sunday said the time has come for consolidation of reforms, including GST, bankruptcy code and benami law, initiated by the Modi government in the last 42 months to ensure that the steps deliver the “desired fruits”.

The new initiatives in the next 18 months, Kumar said, should focus on health and education sectors as these two are going to be critical for human resource development. “My view is that time has come for consolidation and making sure that these reform steps which have been taken yield the desired fruits,” he said.

Reform measures such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and the flagship schemes like Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) are very major initiatives, Kumar said. “We should now focus on their successful completion except in social sector where some steps need to be taken” on public health and public education system fronts.

On criticism that the Centre has failed to create enough jobs, Kumar said there are a large number of areas which have seen substantial increase in employment opportunities, though they may not be in organised and formal sector.

“The number of EPFO accounts have increased, the number of National Pension System (NPS) accounts have increased... (There is a) significant jump in the number of employees within the services sector, especially in tourism, civil aviation, transport and services sector.

“Let me say that the lack of employment story, I think, is quite exaggerated,” Kumar said.

On overall macroeconomic environment in the country, the Niti Aayog VC said the rating upgrade by Moody’s was clear vindication of the fact that the macroeconomic environment in the country is improving, specially with regards to the investor sentiments.

“The only slight concern is the continued weakness of the exports sector, which has not taking off as expected,” Kumar said, adding that the rise in current account deficit (CAD) up to 2.4 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal should not be a cause of worry due to strong foreign currency reserves.

Asked why private investments are not picking up, he pointed out that most people use only the figure of credit offtake on public sector banks (PSBs) as the proxy for private sector investment.

“But if you look at credit offtake on private sector banks, it has now risen quite well...Finally also number of initial public offers (IPOs) have been higher than previous year. So, if you look at all things taken together, the picture is not at all bad,” Kumar observed.