Arun Jaitley on Budget- Government ready to take tough decisions

New Delhi, Feb 09: After Budget 2018 was announced many opposition parties gave it a thumbs down and said the budget didn't deal with key issues and will make GDP worst.

On Thursday, finance minister Arun Jaitley defended the imposition of long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax on equities in the Union Budget. However, he accepted that this decision is not popular and is tough to make.

"Whether it's demonetisation, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code or Goods and Services Tax (GST), these are difficult decisions... I can't recollect between 2004 and 2014, a single structural reform of this kind being taken, the kind that we have undertaken," Jaitley said during a discussion on Budget 2018-19 in the Lok Sabha.

"Exempted income from long-term capital gains last year was Rs 3.67 trillion. Some are small investors. So we said up to Rs 1 lakh of capital gains, there will be no tax. The other investors are large corporate houses, foreign investors, high net-worth individuals and limited liability partnerships. This was an exemption enjoyed by the wealthy," he added. Jaitley claimed that the 2018-19 budget presented on 1 February as well as his earlier budgets had provided relief to the middle class.