Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said tax deducted at source (TDS) is a not a new tax. She said the government is making a lot of efforts to regularise the economy, the TDS is a way of doing that. She added that the industry should not have a problem with TDS.

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"I would appeal to all of you, when you are talking about tax, particularly TDS., you are in the field for long time. I appeal to all of you to please explain the motive as to why we have TDS and TCS objectives. they are not new tax. The government is doing a lot to promote the industry, but we are also wanting to formulaise the economy," she said.

The Finance Minister was addressing industry stakeholders in Hyderabad, Telangana on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Finance Secretary TV Somanathan said the government is not proposing to issue foreign currency denominated sovereign government securities. He said there are some benefits of foreign currency-denominated sovereign government securities, but there are some negatives as well.

He said India is open to foreign money portfolio investments in rupee-denominated securities.

On certification of startups, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is aware that the process via the inter-ministerial board is taking time.

He said the DPIIT has increased the number of boards to 10 folds from around two months ago. "We have started to see results of faster certification of startups," he said, adding that the government is very keen that the startup ecosystem keeps being promoted.

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