Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the fifth pre-budget consultation with India Inc. representatives in New Delhi on Monday, as key industry bodies made known their expectations from the government.
The consultation focused on gathering suggestions from industry bodies, such as the PHD Chamber of Commerce, Confederation of Indian Industry, Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry. It was also attended by the finance secretary, secretaries of the Department of Economic Affairs, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade secretary as well as the chief economic adviser.
Here's a list of the key demands made by each industry body:
CII
Among key demands from the CII were reduction in excise duty on fuel, as well as tax rates for those earning less than Rs 20 lakh annually.
"Domestic consumption has been critical to India's growth story, but inflationary pressures have somewhat eroded the purchasing power of consumers," CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said. "Government interventions could focus on enhancing disposable incomes and stimulating spending to sustain economic momentum."
CII recommended the government to:
Reduce excise duty on fuel to reduce overall inflation and boost disposable incomes.
Reduce marginal tax rates for personal income up to Rs 20 lakh per year.
Increase the minimum wage rate under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act from Rs 267 per day in the last financial year to Rs 375.
Increase capital-expenditure spending by 25%.
Target fiscal deficit at 4.5% for FY26. The CII estimates that a sharper contraction could impact demand.
Debt targeting from FY27, with glide path to bring the central government's debt to below 50% of the gross domestic product by 2030-31
Raise annual payout under the PM-Kisan scheme from Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000
Tax interest income from deposits at a lower rate and reduce lock-in period for fixed deposits with preferential tax treatment from current five to three years
Ficci
Ficci shared a sector-by-sector list of pointers, from across investments and ease of doing business, to healthcare and agriculture. It recommended the government to:
Increase capex in FY26 by 15% over 2024–25's Rs 11.1 lakh crore.
Create inter-state institutional platforms on lines of the GST Council.
Rationalise the multiple TDS/TCS rates into two or three-tier rate structures.
Stop practice of imposing the tax deducted at source/tax collected at source on transactions that are subject to the goods and services tax.
Set up a new independent dispute resolution forum for effective resolution
To speed up India's green transition, it recommended the government to:
Develop carbon capture, utilisation and storage technologies.
Commercialise at least five climate smart technologies, each adopted by at least 5 million farmers over next three years.
Initiate a review of priority-sector lending framework to bring electric-vehicle charging, clean transport, recycling within its purview.
Create pathways for green transition for all sectors for India's net-zero 2070 target.
To boost female participation in the workforce, it recommended the government to:
Consider a special tax exemption up to a defined limit for working women for expenses incurred on childcare for children up to the age of five years.
Consider a statutory body to certify daycare centres.
On crucial sectors like defence, agriculture, electronics and healthcare, it recommended the government to:
Procure defence equipment that was made/partnered only in India.
Set up a defence export promotion agency.
Launch an agricultural yield mission for the bottom 100 districts.
Launch a national programme to develop 3 million farm technicians in five years.
Galvanize private sector adoption of horticulture clusters by completing allotment of 12 priority clusters, launching request for proposals for remaining 41 identified clusters.
Rationalise tariffs and HS codes for printed circuit board assemblies for various applications.
Consider a differential of 25% on custom duty on the PCBAs vis-à-vis its final product.
Increase public health expenditure to 2.5% of the GDP by 2025.
Increase tax exemption for preventive health check-ups under Section 80D from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000.
Allow employers a separate annual deduction of Rs 10,000 per employee for sponsoring these check-ups over current medical reimbursement limits.
Double the deduction for health insurance premiums under Section 80D to Rs 50,000.
Recognise hospitals as industrial undertakings under Section 72A.
Provide 50% additional depreciation under Section 32 of the IT Act for investments in diagnostic infrastructure.
Reduce import duties on lifesaving equipment.
Increase depreciation rate for lifesaving equipment from 40% to 60%.
Incentivize medical value travel for the healthcare sector.
Assocham
Assocham's recommendations to the finance minister were largely around the issues that small enterprises in the country face.
President Sanjay Nayar told reporters that the micro, small and medium enterprises are the backbone of the country and its representations will be based on them, and not tax changes since it understands the "book balancing" that the government has to do.
It recommended the government to:
Extend scope of presumptive taxation to the MSMEs and new-age businesses like data centres.
Establish MSME universities.
Develop integrated infrastructure townships for the MSMEs.
Make mandatory for banks to disclose the number and amount of collateral-free loans granted periodically.
Make additional allocation to enhance credit flow to the MSMEs
PHD Chamber
The PHDCCI's suggestions focused on rationalising the tax structure, bolstering the manufacturing sector and creating an enabling environment for the MSMEs to thrive along with significant reduction in costs of doing business.
Increase Union Budget size from Rs 48.2 lakh crore in FY25 to over Rs 51 lakh crore for FY26.
Capex to rise from Rs 11.1 lakh crore to over Rs 13 lakh crore.
Abolish the securities transaction tax.
Expand the Production Linked Incentive scheme to medicinal plants, handicrafts, leather and footwear, gems and jewellery, space sector.
Reduce tax rates for individuals, limited-liability-partnership firms to 25%.
Simplify the GST rate slabs
Remove inverted duty structure, particularly in sectors like cement, steel.
Extend classification norms of the MSMEs for non-performing assets to 180 days and the restructuring scheme for the MSMEs.
Expand scope of the interest equalization scheme on pre, post shipment export credit
Extend the MSE Facilitation Councils to cover medium enterprises.
Fast-track process for faceless appeals in the tax system.
Introduce special policy initiatives aimed at increasing female workforce participation.
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