NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday that her ministry was working on the contentious Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill but was not sure when it would be tabled in Parliament. “We are working on the FRDI Bill; but (are) not sure when it can get through the house,” Sitharaman, who is on a three-day tour to Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, as a part of series of post-Budget meetings with businesses and other stakeholders.
The FRDI Bill, which had been introduced three years back had a bail-in clause to help out failed banks. This was withdrawn after a huge outcry by the opposition and commentators. According to officials, the new version of the FRDI which may be called financial sector development and regulation (FSDR) bill will not have the bail-in clause, but come up with a resolution authority.
Defending the new tax proposals, she said that the intent of the current government is to move towards simplification of the tax regime and the government was trying to implement the various recommendations of the Direct Tax Code Committee. “The government is a facilitator. The taxpayer is capable of taking a call on where he wants to put his money,” Sitharaman said, adding that directing savings through one route and not another is no longer relevant.
When asked about the LIC IPO, Sitharaman said: “We are looking at an IPO for LIC, which will bring retail investors into the picture.” Sitharman in her Budget speech had said the government intends to raise funds by selling part of its stake in Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) through an initial public offer (IPO). After Mumbai, the minister will address businesses in Chennai.
‘80% taxpayers will switch to new regime’
With the introduction of the new Income Tax regime in the latest Budget, the government claimed 80 per cent of taxpayers will switch to the new tax regime, according to Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey. “The government, before proposing the taxation system in the Budget, did an analysis of 5.78 crore taxpayers,” said Pandey. The analysis found that 69 per cent of them would save on tax payouts under the new system, while 11 per cent were found to be favouring the old regime, he said. The Budget presented on February 1 introduced an alternative tax regime with 6 tax slabs with lower rates of taxes but no tax deductions.