Saturday 28 February 2015

Union Budget 2015-16 is Growth Oriented, Reformist and Pragmatic Budget – CII

By 121 News Reporter

Chandigarh 28th February:-  Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) compliments the Hon'ble Finance Minister announcing for sticking to fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent for 2014-15, inspite of resource crunch in view of the higher devolution of taxes to the State Governments, weak private sector investments and decline in manufacturing, said Zubin Irani, Chairman, CII Northern Region & President -Building & Industrial Systems (India), United Technologies Corporation India Pvt Ltd.

Commenting on the budget provisions Zubin Irani said the Union Budget 2015-16 has been a comprehensive and pragmatic one as it lays out vision for achieving higher and inclusive double digit growth rate. Through the Union Budget, the Government has fortified its focus on curbing the generation of black money in the economy and dealing with its concealment effectively and forcefully. The announcements for introduction of Bill for a comprehensive new law to deal with black money parked abroad along with Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill are the steps in the right direction. Zubin Irani added that focus on the manufacturing sector is of utmost importance for growth and to create job opportunities for millions and in this regard, Budget lays the roadmap ahead, opined Mr Irani. Rationalisation of indirect tax rates by cuts in Customs and Excise Duties will go long way in boosting the domestic manufacturing sector. He felt that reduction in Basic Custom duty on certain inputs, and components in 22 items will minimise the impact of duty inversion. Deference of GAAR, which has been a sticky points with many of the investors by two years is a commendable move. 

 Shreekant Somany, Deputy Chairman, CII Northern Region & Chairman & Managing Director, Somany Ceramics Ltd. Said that india is presently ranked at 142nd position among 185 countries in the 'Ease of Doing Business' as per the World Bank Report. Through the Union Budget 2015-16, the Government has fortified its focus on ease of doing business to improve investors' confidence in the economy. He added that CII appreciates the steps taken in this regard like simplification of tax procedures, rationalisation of penalty provision in indirect taxes to encourage compliance and early dispute resolution, abolishing the Wealth Tax, online central excise and service tax registration within two working days, usage of digitally signed invoices and electronic maintenance of records for Central excise/Service tax assesses etc.

 Talking about the proposed GST roll out,  Vishesh Chandiok, Co-Chairman, Regional Committee on Economic Affairs & Taxation and National Managing Partner, Grant Thornton India LLP said that CII has been for long advocating for the early rollout of GST and we believe that Finance Ministers commitment towards rollout out GST by 1st April 2016 is really commendable. CII believes that GST regime is expected to add about 1.0 – 1.5 per cent in the country's GDP. As a movement towards GST, the education cess and secondary and higher education cess getting subsumed in Central Excise Duty is a positive indication.

R M Khannna, Past Chairman, CII Northern Region & Managing Director, Stanley Engineering Ltd said that the announcements are positive for the MSME sector. He felt that the setting up of Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank with a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore and credit gurantee corpus of Rs 3,000 crore will encourage MSMEs to grow and graduate to the next level. Further, setting up of a Trade Receivables discounting System for electronically financing trade receivables of the MSMEs will ease out working capital pressure on this sector.

Sharing the northern perspective of the Union Budget, Pikender Pal Singh, Regional Director, CII Northern Region listed some of specific measures benefiting the region such as AIIMS like institutions at Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir; IIM at Jammu & Kashmir; Post Graduate Institute of Horticulture Research and Education at Amritsar (Punjab); National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research in Rajasthan; Apprenticeship Training Institute for Women in Haryana and Uttrakhand; provision of resources to World Heritage Sites such as Kumbalgarh and other Hill Forts of Rajasthan; Leh Palace, Ladakh, J&K; Varanasi Temple town, UP; Jalianwala bagh, Amritsar, Punjab.

 

 

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