'No threat to the stability of UPA govt'

LONDON: There is no threat to the stability of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, Asim K Dasgupta, Finance Minister of West Bengal and Chairman of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers has said.
The comments came at a time when the left parties have upped their ante against the government's "pro-US policies", especially the Indo-US nuclear deal which they allege to be attempts to "integrate India more closely with the US".

"There is no reason to worry and there are ways of resolving issues (including Indo-US nuclear deal)," Dasgupta told here on Monday night.

He said that veteran party leader Jyoti Basu has also made it clear that the dispute would not affect the stability of the government.

After an Interactive Session on 'Value Added Taxation in India' at the India House, Dasgupta -- leading a 35-member delegation including Finance Ministers of a dozen states - said' "Left is bringing to bear a sobering effect (on the Union Government) which is not negative at all."

The delegation, on a trip to study the implementation of VAT, arrived here last morning after a six-day visit to Brazil. It held discussions with Paul Gray, Chairman, HM Revenue and Customs and was briefed on Value Added Tax (VAT) by Richard Brown, Head of International Indirect Tax, HM Treasury.

The team on Tuesday called on Kitty Ussher, Economic Secretary to the Treasury and Sriti Vadera, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for International Development before heading to Swaminarayan Temple, Neasden to take part in Janamashtami celebrations.

"In India, the tax reform process has been taken very seriously both at the centre and the States. The VAT is being implemented in the entire country barring UP where it will be introduced shortly.

"The India government has decided to introduce unified General Sales Tax (GST) from April 1, 2010 on goods and services. The proposed single value added tax throughout the country would remove the hurdle for free movement of goods and services within the country.

"It would also facilitate Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to flow into the country. One of the concerns expressed by such investors has been multiple taxing, which will be avoided under the new system," he noted.

The team decided to visit Brazil and the UK where such taxes have been successfully implemented. "The UK started implementing GST in 1973 and it has had both positive and negative experiences. Now it is facing certain new challenges in the context of EU laws including reduction of tax evasion."

The delegation included H K Dwivedi, Commissioner, Commercial Taxes, Prof Stephen Marandi, Deputy Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Jayant Patil, Finance Minister of Maharashtra, A K Walia, Finance Minister of Delhi, Tariq Hameed Karra, Finance Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, K N Rai, Sikkim Finance minister, Birender Singh, Finance Minister of Haryana, Kalikho Pul, Finance Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, D G Narvekar, Finance Minister of Goa, P Shome, Adviser to the Union Finance Minister, M M Srivastava, Commissioner of Commercial Tax, Gujarat and Satish Chandra, Member Secretary of the Empowered Committee.

The High Commissioner, Kamalesh Sharma and Deputy High Commissioner, Asoke Mukerji were present at the interactive session, followed by a dinner hosted by the High Commission.

A K Walia, Delhi's Finance Minister said the state government was trying to improve the public transportation system in Delhi where the Metro had considerably eased the pressure on transport.

"With the construction of many roads, the connectivity has also improved," he said, adding that 27 new flyovers were being built to provide signal-free traffic movement in the capital.
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