The black money law that the government is bringing in will offer strong deterrents against stashing money abroad, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, while also assuring to take safeguards to prevent its misuse.

The Cabinet earlier this week approved the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, which is expected to be introduced in Parliament on Friday.

The minister's statement came during his reply to the debate on the Budget in the Rajya Sabha. The Appropriation Bill 2015-16, which authorises the government to spend money, was approved by a voice vote later on Thursday, marking completion of the first phase of the budgetary exercise.

SEEKS COOPERATION

The Finance minister requested the opposition not to obstruct reforms and sought a larger consensus on growth roadmap. "Obstructionism can have a sadistic thrill, but that can only be temporary," he said.

Key legislations such as the Land Acquisition Bill, Coal Bill and Mines and Minerals Bill are stuck in the Rajya Sabha due to stiff opposition from some parties in the upper house where the ruling NDA is in minority.

FISCAL ROAD MAP TO BE STRETCHED

Jaitley defended the government's decision to extend the fiscal consolidation road map by a year. The 3 per cent fiscal deficit goal will now be reached in fiscal 2018, instead of the fiscal 2017 scheduled drawn up by the previous government. The reason for taking that one year extra is to share a lot more resources with states and because of burden of seventh pay commission which is likely to come, he said. Also, because of the slowdown in various sectors, "I had to spend more on infrastructure sectors", the minister said, adding: "This gave me sufficient fiscal space to fund infrastructure; from the general budgetary support, Rs 70,000 crore more."