Highlighting major achievements of the government during 2017-18 year (FY18), the Finance Ministry in its year end review report has said that overall fundamentals of the economy remained strong in the current financial year, on the back of firm macroeconomic indicators, improvement in World Bank's ease of doing business ranking and sovereign rating upgrade by Moody's.
The report also highlighted various reforms measures taken by the government to sustain growth of the country including Goods and Services Tax (GST), demonetization and recapitalization of public sector banks. The Finance Ministry termed the GST as ‘transformational reform’, as it has brought transparency and accountability in business transactions along with ensuring ease of doing business and rationalization in tax rates, while on note ban it said that the exercise has helped to cleanse the economy of black money and increased number of taxpayers.
As per the review report, manufacturing, electricity, gas, water supply & other utility services trade, hotels, transport & communication and services related to broadcasting sectors registered growth of over 6.0% in Q2 of 2017-18 over Q2 of 2016-17. The Finance Ministry also stated that enhancing the quality of life remained primary goal for Government when it put into implementation the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission to benefit more than 48 Lakh Central Government Employees.