PM likely to review economy with key ministers on Wednesday

New Delhi - The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, is likely to review the state of economy with some of his key ministers on Wednesday.

The proposed meeting comes even as the Congress Working Committee (CWC) was meeting in the national capital on Monday to review the prevailing political and economic situation in the country.

On the same day, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee praised revenue department officials for doing "good job" during the last fiscal (2011-12), while exuding confidence on the government being able to achieve the indirect tax collection target of Rs 5.05 lakh crore for 2012-13.

"They have done good job last year. This year also, I do hope it would be possible for them to do their job and realise the revenue target which has been fixed for them," Mukherjee told reporters after addressing senior Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) officials here.

The indirect tax mop-up in 2011-12 was pegged at Rs.3,92,781 crore, or 99.6 per cent of the Budget Estimate. In 2011-12, the government had revised the indirect tax collection target upward after reduction in customs and excise duties on petroleum products following hike in diesel, kerosene and LPG prices in June 2011.

In April, 2012, the indirect tax collection was Rs.33,045 crore, up 10.4 per cent year-on-year.

CBEC Chairman S. K. Goel said figures for May would be available in the next three to four days.

Earlier speaking at the 27th Annual Conference of Chief Commissioners and Directors General of Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax, Mukherjee told officials that resource mobilisation is very important and targets could be achieved by making efforts.

Expressing concerns over revenue locked up in litigations, he asked the CBEC officials to make efforts to unlock the funds.

Meanwhile, according to a report in the Hindu Businessline, Economic Affairs Secretary R.Gopalan  has said that the economy will grow by seven per cent plus in the current fiscal.

“The GDP growth we are looking at this fiscal will be definitely higher than what was given for the just ended financial year 2011-12,’’ Gopalan told reporters here on the sidelines of a FICCI event.

The Finance Ministry had in this year’s Economic Survey projected 7.6 per cent economic growth for 2012-13.

With the Central Statistics Office (CSO) recently revising downward the economic growth performance for 2011-12 to 6.5 per cent from an advance estimate of 6.9 per cent, there are doubts about India being able to record a growth rate of 7.6 per cent in the current fiscal.

Gopalan, however, expressed scepticism about the correctness of the CSO’s latest GDP growth estimate, stating that the 6.5 per cent growth for 2011-12 is on the lower side.

“I am not sure how these numbers (CSO revised estimate) should be taken because they do not capture the momentum in the SME sector, which is one of the important manufacturing sectors in the economy. SME side is not fully captured", Gopalan said.

On the rupee situation, Gopalan said that the RBI is constantly monitoring the exchange rate.

He also highlighted that lowering of global crude oil prices will have a positive impact on the inflation front in the coming days. (ANI + inputs)