Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said the Centre and states need to work together to roll out Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Addressing pre-budget meet, Jaitely said with a collective effort they can remove supply side bottlenecks and take serious steps in checking hoarding and black marketing to tame ever-growing inflation.
He also underlined the need to break the vicious cycle of high inflation and high interest rates.
"Mandate of 2014 clearly spells out that economic growth cannot be compromised at any cost and is sine qua non to reap the benefits of the demographic dividend," he said, adding that there is a need to "round off corners" towards GST implementation.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Gujarat Finance Minister Saurabh Patel said: "Most of the states have said that employment and infrastructure should be given priority and how to increase revenue of the states."
Jaitley during his address said: "States must complement each other in managing the economy and fiscal policy, which is the essence of cooperative federalism. In doing so (we) must act like a team." He added that while aiming for high growth, fiscal discipline should not be compromised.
He also emphasised the need for states to address supply side bottlenecks to manage inflation. Retail inflation has touched a three-year high of 8.59 per cent in April, and the WPI inflation was 5.7 per cent.
As the long inflationary trends have adversely impacted the Food security of the common man, we are committed to breaking this vicious cycle of high inflation and high interest rates.
He further said that slowdown in economic growth, coupled with high inflationary pressure, poses a challenge to the country's economy, which has crawled at sub-5 per cent in the recent years.
He also sought states' support in tackling fluctuation in prices. As part of the structural issues, the Centre proposed to put in place strict measures under Essential Commodities Act and also set up special courts to stop hoarding.
Earlier in the day, President Pranab Mukherjee said curbing food inflation was topmost priority of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.
Addressing pre-budget meet, Jaitely said with a collective effort they can remove supply side bottlenecks and take serious steps in checking hoarding and black marketing to tame ever-growing inflation.
"Mandate of 2014 clearly spells out that economic growth cannot be compromised at any cost and is sine qua non to reap the benefits of the demographic dividend," he said, adding that there is a need to "round off corners" towards GST implementation.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Gujarat Finance Minister Saurabh Patel said: "Most of the states have said that employment and infrastructure should be given priority and how to increase revenue of the states."
Jaitley during his address said: "States must complement each other in managing the economy and fiscal policy, which is the essence of cooperative federalism. In doing so (we) must act like a team." He added that while aiming for high growth, fiscal discipline should not be compromised.
He also emphasised the need for states to address supply side bottlenecks to manage inflation. Retail inflation has touched a three-year high of 8.59 per cent in April, and the WPI inflation was 5.7 per cent.
As the long inflationary trends have adversely impacted the Food security of the common man, we are committed to breaking this vicious cycle of high inflation and high interest rates.
He further said that slowdown in economic growth, coupled with high inflationary pressure, poses a challenge to the country's economy, which has crawled at sub-5 per cent in the recent years.
He also sought states' support in tackling fluctuation in prices. As part of the structural issues, the Centre proposed to put in place strict measures under Essential Commodities Act and also set up special courts to stop hoarding.
Earlier in the day, President Pranab Mukherjee said curbing food inflation was topmost priority of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.
