Ongoing reforms much more than 'big-bang', says Arun Jaitley

Davos, Jan 23: As expectations continue to build up on the first full budget of the Modi government, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the sum-total of the reform measures and other policy initiatives already taken would be much more than "the big bang".

"I am not going to be swayed by these phrases that are used in television studios. If you take the sum total of all the steps we have already taken, it will be much more than the big bang. Even big bang looks small in comparison," Jaitley said here on the sidelines of WEF Annual Meeting.

He was replying to a question on whether the global investors present here at Davos were also expecting a 'big bang' budget from him next month. When asked whether he was tempering down the expectations, the Minister said, "I am not tempering down the expectations. Opening up sacrosanct sectors like Railways, Defence, is that not big bang? GST, which everyone thought will never see the light of the day, is that not big bang?

"In the mining sector, in allocation of natural resources, what we have done, is it not big bang? After all these are the steps that we take in management of the economy of the country. These are steps which our predecessors had failed to take.

Jaitley: You should wait for the budget for exact numbers

"The budget will be a very important occasion for this government, but then the next 364 days are equally important." "I'll again say that I'm not tempering down the expectations. If you look at what happened in the last budget that we presented, we announced a particular direction in the Budget and that was followed up with a lot of activity and action over the next six months," he said.

When asked about the government spending programmes, Jaitley said, "You should wait for the budget for exact numbers, but I think the government spending is important and fiscal prudence is equally important and therefore it is an onerous responsibility to maintain the balance."

On the road ahead of raising tax revenues from oil when prices were falling, Jaitley said, "As far as petrol and oil prices are concerned, the prices are coming down. I can't say what will happen in future, but then there is of course a lot of benefit that we have passed on to the people.

PTI