Tributes poured in from India Inc with corporate leaders expressing grief at the demise of former finance ministry and BJP veteran Arun Jaitley.
The former Union minister died at AIIMS on Saturday, where he was undergoing treatment for several weeks. He was 66.
During Jaitley’s tenure as finance minister, many big-ticket reforms were initiated and implemented, including the goods and services tax, the bankruptcy code, consolidation of banks, merging rail budget with Union Budget, changing the budget presentation date, Jan Dhan Yojana and the establishment of the monetary policy committee.
“Arun Jaitley’s vision and progressive thinking has been a catalyst in shaping the new India. RIP,” Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani said in a tweet.
“Jaitley-ji was a wonderful human being, a great friend and a thorough professional. He will be remembered fondly and missed deeply,” JSW Group CMD Sajjan Jindal tweeted.
Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said India has lost one of the finest political leaders and a legal luminary. “He had a very personal touch in his dealings, something that attracted people even from the other side of the political spectrum to seek his counsel in resolving complex matters,” he said.
Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra said: “I salute, and pray for the soul of a man who lived by his convictions and committed his life to his country.”
HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh said the nation has lost one of its tallest leaders. The country will always be beholden to him for leading one of India’s most significant reforms of recent times, which was the introduction of GST.
Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal said it is a irreparable loss, not only to the party but also to the entire nation.
Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw tweeted that she was “so very sad to see such a young and dynamic political leader’s life being cut short”.
CII president Vikram Kirloskar described Jaitley as a “true reformer and keen advocate for economic liberalisation”.
“Arunji was a firm believer in the tremendous economic potential our country had to offer,” Ficci president Sandip Somany said.
“A reformist and progressive to the core,” Assocham president B.K. Goenka said in his message.
“He was so humble that instead of unilaterally implementing GST, he sought cooperation of traders to avoid any confrontation and as per his promise to us he carried large number of amendments in GST on our request to make it a trader friendly law,” Praveen Khandelwal, National Secretary General, Confederation of All India Traders said.
Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw tweeted that she was “so very sad to see such a young and dynamic political leader's life being cut short — he had so much more to contribute to our nation’s development. RIP”.
“Jaitley-ji was a wonderful human being, a great friend and a thorough professional. He will be remembered fondly and missed deeply,” JSW Group CMD Sajjan Jindal tweeted.