At Niti Aayog meeting, Modi pitches for January-December financial year

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for conducting simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies and shifting to a January-December financial year.

Addressing the third meeting of the Niti Aayog Governing Council, which was attended by several state chief ministers but not Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee, Modi said India had suffered from economic and political mismanagement.

“Because of poor time management, many good initiatives and schemes failed to deliver the anticipated results,” he said. Mr Modi called for carrying forward the debate and discussions for simultaneous polls.

On the GST, Mr Modi asked states to make legislative arrangements “without delay” for the rollout of the indirect tax regime from July 1.

The consensus on GST reflected the spirit of ‘one nation, one aspiration, one determination’, Modi said.

Referring to the change in the budget dates, he said in a country where agricultural income is exceedingly important, budgets should be prepared immediately and after the receipt of agricultural incomes for the year.

He added that there have been suggestions to follow January to December as financial year. He asked states to take the initiative for this.

Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya came out with 300 specific “action points” for accelerating the country’s economic growth.