India has lot of scope for reducing some food, fertiliser subsidies: IMF

11 Apr 2019 Evaluate

International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Fiscal Affairs Deputy Director Paul Mauro said that India has a lot of scope for reducing some food and fertiliser subsidies, while also taking steps to ensure that the growth is inclusive and poverty is reduced. He underlined that the economy is growing in excess of 7 per cent, and the objective there is to make sure that that growth is inclusive and it filters down to poverty reduction.

He mentioned there is a lot of scope for reducing untargeted food and fertiliser subsidies and for enhancing revenue administration, including for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and adding that improved tax compliance would be a priority for India.

Besides, the Fiscal Monitor report noted that the recently announced farm-income-support programme alongside weaker-than-expected goods and services tax revenues led to a deterioration relative to the previous central government budget outturn. The 'Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi' (PM-KISAN) scheme announced in the interim budget will give small and marginal farm households a guaranteed annual income support of Rs 6,000. The report also said that digitisation helped reduce fraud and also introduced economies.

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