With an eye on the general budget, which is slated to be presented in February next, an industry delegation from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) sought reduction in corporate tax and personal income tax rate to 25 per cent, and incentives to ‘’sunrise industries’’ and revival of tax holiday for multiplexes and telecom services.
The delegation that met Revenue Secretary PV Bhide included Harsh Pati Singhania, MD, JK Paper Ltd; Deepak Puri, MD, Moser Baer India Ltd; Shivinder Mohan Singh, CEO and MD, Fortis Healthcare Ltd; Ness Wadia, Joint MD, The Bombay Dyeing Mfg Co. Ltd; Pradeep Dinodia, chairman, FICCI Taxation Committee; Gaurav Taneja, co-chairman, FICCI Taxation Committee; Amit Mitra, secretary general, FICCI; and SB Gupta, advisor, FICCI.
They asked the revenue secretary to grant “infrastructure” status to cold-chain establishments and tax benefits provided to them under section 80IA. Likewise, with a view to attracting investments in the healthcare sector, it was imperative to grant “infrastructure” status to the healthcare industry.
The FICCI delegation made a plea to reduce excise duty on synthetic fibres, PP fibre and filament yarns, along with their raw materials and intermediates. The chamber also pointed out that given the domestic raw material shortage and constraints, import duties on pulp, wood and bamboo need to be eliminated. The government should take measures to allow industrial plantation on degraded forestland enabling industry to have a regular sustainable source of raw material for meeting growing demand of paper. To encourage environment-friendly manufacturing, the government should help industry by eliminating import duties on pollution-control equipment and/or providing soft loans for installing these equipments.
