New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sees recent measures announced by the government, especially the move to reduce corporate tax rate to 22%, boost investment in the country, a government release said.
Last month, the government slashed the corporate tax rate to 22% from 30% for domestic companies. The tax rate will be even lower at 15% for domestic manufacturing companies that are incorporated from this month.
Sitharaman was speaking at a gathering of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, as part of a series of engagements for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings currently being held in US.
During the meeting, Sitharaman said that the G20 needs to make concerted efforts in the face of global slowdown and that emerging market economies, in particular, face the challenge of achieving economic growth and inclusive development while pursuing sustainable financing.
Sitharaman emphasised on the need for collective action by G20 countries to help global growth gain pace, the release said.
Her comments come at a time when the International Monetary Fund recently cut its growth forecast for 2019 for the global economy by 20 basis points to 3.0%, the slowest since the global financial crisis a decade ago. According to the multilateral funding agency, expectations of subdued growth is a consequence of rising trade barriers, elevated uncertainty surrounding geopolitics, and idiosyncratic factors causing macroeconomic strain in several emerging market economies.
At the meeting between finance ministers and central bank governors belonging to the BRICS group, Sitharaman talked about India's support for expanding the membership of the New Development Bank.
In 2014, at the sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, the leaders signed an agreement establishing the New Development Bank to supplement the efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global development. The inaugural meeting of the board of governors of the New Development Bank was chaired by Russia in July 2015.
In 2016-2017, the board of the bank had approved loans involving financial assistance of over $3.4 bln for projects in sectors such as green and renewable energy, transportation, water sanitation, irrigation.
On the issue of a proposal related to strengthening borrowed resources of the International Monetary Fund, Sitharaman expressed concern over how borrowed resources cannot provide full confidence in extreme crisis situations as creditor nations may be under stress as well.
