Decision on GAAR, retro tax soon: Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the government will soon announce steps to stave off investors' fears ensuing from measures like anti-tax avoidance rule and retrospective amendments.

Admitting that certain tax measures like GAAR (general anti-avoidance rules) and retrospective tax amendments in the Budget have led to "a very negative" reaction from investors, he said: "We hope to announce decisions on all these issues within the next few weeks".

Terming the recent decisions to reduce fuel subsidies to bring down fiscal deficit as "politically difficult" ones, he said "we bit the bullet and did what we felt was the right thing to do".

Speaking at a function, Singh said the government was mindful of the effects such steps have on the poor and vulnerable and "we will take all possible measures to protect their lifeline needs".

"We have dispelled gloom and doom, improved the climate for foreign investment, improved ministry coordination, and are working hard to restore investor confidence and the growth environment," he told captains of India Inc.

Pointing out that the Cabinet has approved changes in the banking and insurance laws and also a new pension law, with higher foreign direct investment (FDI) limits, the prime minister said: "It will be our endeavour to have them passed by Parliament as soon as possible. They will make our financial system more able to support growth."

Hinting at setting up of a National Investment Board (NIB), which has been mooted by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Singh said one of the major negative features of the present situation was that a large number of infrastructure projects were stuck because of delay in granting various clearances and the non-transparency in determining the condition in which clearances are given.

"We are looking at ways to speed up clearance processes and making them more transparent," he said.