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NEW DELHI: Businesses lobbying ministers for favourable policies is common practice, but doing that with Opposition leaders is extremely rare. But a bunch of top foreign institutional investors has done just that.
Some 20 or so top foreign fund representatives met Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on Thursday to discuss the fate of key economic legislations, notably the long-pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, the unusual meeting underscoring the nervousness in markets whether economic reforms will once again become hostage to politics in the upcoming winter session of Parliament.
The meeting, at Gandhi's Tughlak Lane residence and arranged at the behest of the investors, was labelled by one of the attendees as an attempt to get a 'first-hand view' of the Congress party's stance in the upcoming Parliament session. Put bluntly, they wanted to know whether or not Congress would support the GST Bill's passage in the winter session that starts on November 26. Representatives of firms such as Capital International, HSBC, T.
Rowe Price, Dutch Pension Fund and Jupiter Capital are among those said to have attended the hour-long meeting with Gandhi, who was accompanied by United Progressive Alliance-era minister and close adviser Jairam Ramesh and other party functionaries.
While representatives of the firms were not available for comment, one of the Congress functionaries present at the meeting said Gandhi assured the investors that his party was not against economic reforms and put the onus for the Bill's passage on the government.
"It was the Congress party which ushered in liberalisation and first brought the GST Bill. But the party is equally committed to protecting the marginalised, the poor and make sure the security support systems are in place," said this person.
"He (Rahul Gandhi) didn't say that we will stall Parliament. 'The GST Bill is our Bill, we introduced it three years ago...We are not against growth but the present government has to engage with Opposition. They can't take a stand just because they have the numbers'," the person quoted Gandhi as saying.
Rahul Gandhi too acknowledged the meeting on his twitter handle @officeofRG. "Had a fruitful discussion with top foreign institutional investors yesterday on state of the economy & its priorities."
Market watchers warn further delay in passage of key reforms, including GST, could lead to some foreign investors paring a portion of their Indian holdings. "Investor patience is running thin and the government needs to push through at least one big-banner reform in the winter session of Parliament to regain confidence," said Taimur Baig and Kaushik Das, economists at Deutsche Bank.
The hour-long meeting largely focussed on the GST Bill, but the bankruptcy law was also discussed.
In a recent interview with Reuters, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government is ready to discuss all issues with the Opposition on GST, but would not compromise on the basic architecture of the tax reform.
Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram has put three conditions for supporting the Bill. These include a constitutional cap of 18% on GST, a dispute resolution authority, and dropping of the 1% tax proposed on interstate movement of goods. ' The government could not get the GST Bill passed in the monsoon session because it refused to accept these conditions.
In a rare meeting, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi apprises FIIs about party's stand on stuck GST Bill - The Economic Times
Some 20 or so top foreign fund representatives met Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on Thursday to discuss the fate of key economic legislations, notably the long-pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, the unusual meeting underscoring the nervousness in markets whether economic reforms will once again become hostage to politics in the upcoming winter session of Parliament.
The meeting, at Gandhi's Tughlak Lane residence and arranged at the behest of the investors, was labelled by one of the attendees as an attempt to get a 'first-hand view' of the Congress party's stance in the upcoming Parliament session. Put bluntly, they wanted to know whether or not Congress would support the GST Bill's passage in the winter session that starts on November 26. Representatives of firms such as Capital International, HSBC, T.
Rowe Price, Dutch Pension Fund and Jupiter Capital are among those said to have attended the hour-long meeting with Gandhi, who was accompanied by United Progressive Alliance-era minister and close adviser Jairam Ramesh and other party functionaries.
While representatives of the firms were not available for comment, one of the Congress functionaries present at the meeting said Gandhi assured the investors that his party was not against economic reforms and put the onus for the Bill's passage on the government.
"It was the Congress party which ushered in liberalisation and first brought the GST Bill. But the party is equally committed to protecting the marginalised, the poor and make sure the security support systems are in place," said this person.
"He (Rahul Gandhi) didn't say that we will stall Parliament. 'The GST Bill is our Bill, we introduced it three years ago...We are not against growth but the present government has to engage with Opposition. They can't take a stand just because they have the numbers'," the person quoted Gandhi as saying.
Rahul Gandhi too acknowledged the meeting on his twitter handle @officeofRG. "Had a fruitful discussion with top foreign institutional investors yesterday on state of the economy & its priorities."
Market watchers warn further delay in passage of key reforms, including GST, could lead to some foreign investors paring a portion of their Indian holdings. "Investor patience is running thin and the government needs to push through at least one big-banner reform in the winter session of Parliament to regain confidence," said Taimur Baig and Kaushik Das, economists at Deutsche Bank.
The hour-long meeting largely focussed on the GST Bill, but the bankruptcy law was also discussed.
In a recent interview with Reuters, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government is ready to discuss all issues with the Opposition on GST, but would not compromise on the basic architecture of the tax reform.
Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram has put three conditions for supporting the Bill. These include a constitutional cap of 18% on GST, a dispute resolution authority, and dropping of the 1% tax proposed on interstate movement of goods. ' The government could not get the GST Bill passed in the monsoon session because it refused to accept these conditions.
In a rare meeting, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi apprises FIIs about party's stand on stuck GST Bill - The Economic Times
