Chidambaram’s charm floors BJP

NEW DELHI, May 13; Parliament today completed the final phase of the budgetary process with the Rajya Sabha returning the Finance Bill to give effect to wide-ranging cuts in Income and Corporate Tax and Customs and Excise levies announced by Finance Minister P Chidambaram as part of his widely acclaimed budget.

The Bill was returned with the main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party withdrawing all its amendments following assurances by the Finance Minister. The bill will now go to the President for his assent.

Chidambaram told the Rajya Sabha in his reply to the debate that the time had come to learn from lessons of Asian Tiger economies and “the more we open, the stronger we become”.

Strongly justifying tax cuts, he said a regime of high taxes led to “discretion, corruption, arbitrariness and litigation”. Pledging to bring down duty levels to average 18 per cent prevalent in progressive economies of the Asian Tigers, he said the Budget aimed to make India as competitive as them.