Budget wishlist: Luxe sector wants Govt to boost 'Make in India', ease gold import duty
Business leaders want policies that will encourage local manufacturing.
By ET Online |
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Industry experts want the Government to bring in more flow of money in the market.
NEW DELHI: At a time when Indians have reached the point where they think eating onions is now a luxury and the economy is in a downward spiral, business leaders of various luxury brands want the Government to announce crucial tax benefits that will help enhance spending limit.
On Saturday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget, and the luxury industry believes that several improvements like reduction in surcharge on income-tax of the high-income group, encouraging 'Make In India' initiative, and relaxation on gold import duty will go a long way.
Gaurav Mehta, Founder, Jaipur Watch Company
"This year's Budget should incentivise the development of watch component supply chain in India and encourage local manufacturing.
"India is one of the largest markets for watches in the world, but 30-40 per cent of all the timepieces bought in India are imported.
Gaurav Mehta wants government to incentivise the development of watch component supply chain in India. "Currently, we must mostly import components as the local industry is not able to supply quality parts for watchmaking. If this issue is addressed at the Budget, India can easily become a global hub for watch manufacturing."
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Dr Nawal Agrawal, Partner, Birdhichand Ghanshyamdas, Jaipur "This Budget, we expect some relief on the import duty of gold and a cut on the recent income tax structure. Today, gold attracts an import duty of 12.5 per cent and a GST of 3 per cent. Relaxation on gold import duty along with the necessity of buyer's pan card requirement to increase from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh will likely provide a fillip to the industry.
"We expect the Government to bring in more flow of money in the market so that an individual's spending limit increases, which in return will increase the demand in the jewellery sector post the announcement.
This Budget, Dr Nawal Agrawal expects relief on import duty of gold and cut on income tax structure. "We need to realise that the concept of buying jewellery in India is entirely different as of the western world. Jewellery here is considered as an investment, for a bridal trousseau or is considered as auspicious buying which makes us one of the largest jewellery markets in the world. Hence, if the Government supports us with easy and revenue improvements there will be positive developments in the industry."
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Ashwin Chadha, President, India Sotheby’s International Realty "Real estate contributes eight per cent to the national GDP. Acts such as RERA, fund infusion of Rs 25,000 crore towards stalled projects, and many other schemes by the Government have helped the industry so far. However, there is much that needs addressing to raise the contribution to double-digits in the GDP.
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Ashwin Chadha feels formative steps need to be taken to give real estate an industry status. "We are optimistic that the new Budget will help the real estate sector grow and cure the dichotomies faced last year. What the sector needs today are prompt solutions for all stakeholders involved in the market. The need of the hour is an evolved input tax mechanism under GST, reduction in surcharge on income-tax of the high-income group and ease of transmission of monetary policy.
"Formative steps also need to be taken to give real estate an industry status, and single-window clearance for projects. On an overall level, we hope to see stronger actions by the Government in driving positive sentiment and boosting the real estate industry."
Sanket Shah, CEO & Managing Director, Advanced Hair Studio (India Sub Continent & Middle East) "Budget 2020 will be extremely pragmatic for the economy as we head to a new decade. The expectation invariably will be towards a transformation/change in almost every industry from the current scenario.
"In the healthcare/grooming industry, we have seen a significant expansion of the market owing to an increase in demand and new industry players. We are hopeful effective measures will be taken to accelerate the growth and a focus will be levied on infrastructural development. Technological excellence and certified medical procedures will certainly start making inroads now, while keeping affordability at the epicenter.
Sanket Shah is certain Budget will fuel economic growth through reforms. "The current market scenario is conducive to boost growth rate of the grooming sector in India which needs to be complemented with rational policies and effective implementation of the same. We are certain the new Budget will fuel economic growth through reforms, an effective implementation mechanism and pragmatism.”
Puneet Gupta, MD, Franke Faber India "In the demand side, the Government should rationalise income tax to release more cash in hand to the consumers. This will help sentiment, demand and spending. Hopefully, the possible surge in economy will make this decision self-sufficient in terms of generating revenue for the government.
Puneet Gupta wants the Centre to take action under the 'Make In India' initiative. "As far as the supply side, the Centre must take further action under the 'Make In India' initiative. Incentivising CAPEX decisions for private sector by making imports dearer and/or manufacturing more lucrative is important. There are many product categories where imports make up for more than 70 per cent of consumption on one hand, and on the other, Indian plants languish with under capacity utilisation issues.
"Anti-dumping duty on steel has helped, but now, we need to look at 'steel-made' products which escape this tariff and makes Indian production uneconomical. Few examples could be steel sinks, chimneys, cooktops, among others."
India Inc's Budget Wishlist: Tax Relief For Art Philanthropy, Boosting EV Ecosystem
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All eyes are on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she gets to roll out her second Budget on February 1.
While the main focus is to spur economic growth, India Inc bosses feel certain initiatives in this year's Budget will help various sectors like food, culture & art, real estate, fintech and automobile. Several suggestions like boosting 'Make In India' in order to generate employment, reviving consumer demand and reintroducing the subvention scheme have also been doing the rounds.
As the day nears, here are some suggestions from top business leaders.
All eyes are on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she gets to roll out her second Budget on February 1.While the main focus is to spur economic growth, India Inc bosses feel certain initiatives ..
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The Government should build on its recent push towards sustainability by prioritising the growth of the Electric Vehicle ecosystem. This can be done by promoting the creation of a strong and well-connected charging infrastructure on a pan-India level, promoting the setting up of EV battery capacity in the country and incentivising the adoption of EVs, especially for public transport buses, fleet operator cars and two- and three-wheelers.
The road connectivity must also be improved between major urban centres and tier-2/3 regions to bolster the growth of the travel and tourism sector.
The Government should build on its recent push towards sustainability by prioritising the growth of the Electric Vehicle ecosystem. This can be done by promoting the creation of a strong and well-con..
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In order to generate employment, the Budget should consider further incentives for boosting 'Make In India', and look into new mechanisms to prevent whole-sale dumping of goods by many countries into India, specifically in the area of solar energy.
Given the deceleration in economic growth, the FM may be compelled to look at measures both for immediate impact and long-term growth. The Budget will have to play a fine balancing act between managing the deficit and providing a boost to flagging economic growth. Also, India's ease of doing business ranking improved last year from 77th to 63rd. The Government needs to push ahead with sustained regulatory reforms to provide a conducive business environment.
In order to generate employment, the Budget should consider further incentives for boosting 'Make In India', and look into new mechanisms to prevent whole-sale dumping of goods by many countries into..
Read More
The 2020 Budget allocation for the food industry is going to be critical, mainly due to the removal of the input tax credit on food sold in restaurants and workplaces. This step has negatively impacted the agricultural economy, ultimately having an adverse reaction to the food services industry which is a $10 billion-economy that backs $7 billion of agriculture produces. It has largely resulted in a disorganised industry, creating a lopsided structure of the entire sector as previously there was service tax and GST that claimed to have an input tax credit. The removal of Input Tax Credit and replacing it with flat-tax took away the core promise of GST, that is to eliminate the cash economy and to make sure the business of the companies help meet the expectations of the Government in ensuring transparency in the transactions.
Furthermore, it is worse when it comes to food services provider or organised caterer of any sort. When the customer is billed, he or she can claim ITC on that purchase but the service provider cannot as that is considered as a restaurant. Due to this, while the restaurants are hiking up the prices to compensate for the loss of ITC, food service providers are left high and dry. As a consequence, it reflects negatively towards the motive of helping bring about an organisational approach to agriculture produces and streamline the process. We remain optimistic that the decision of bringing back the input tax credit will be considered under the cognisance and some change is hopeful. It is also important that more focus is given to the agricultural produce so that the area substantially gets highly streamlined. The need to spur private investment and therefore to have a more predictable tax regime which can allow us to kick start our acquisitions in India is mandatory. The industry is looking forward to a revised and much predictable tax regime along with the reintroduction of the input tax credit on food sales to streamline the GST in the sector.
The 2020 Budget allocation for the food industry is going to be critical, mainly due to the removal of the input tax credit on food sold in restaurants and workplaces. This step has negatively impact..
Read More
With the increasing demand for online purchasing, more and more businesses are moving to e-store from brick and mortar stores. e-Commerce has also revolutionised the way companies are doing business. The Government should make GST obligations for both offline and online traders same to provide more clarity on policy guidelines pertaining to eCommerce.
Looking at it as a major opportunity, the Government should look to spend higher on infrastructure and rural programs, and focus on tax cuts to boost personal consumption.
With the increasing demand for online purchasing, more and more businesses are moving to e-store from brick and mortar stores. e-Commerce has also revolutionised the way companies are doing business...
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The Government needs to do a tight rope walk in the 2020 Union Budget by balancing the burgeoning fiscal deficit and increasing the borrow at one end and stimulating growth at the other. The need to strike a fine balance will be a key agenda in the upcoming Budget. There are expectations of reduction in personal income tax rates to boost consumption and dividend distribution tax, and long-term capital gains tax to improve the sentiment in the capital markets. These measures will increase the disposable income in the hands of the individual, boosting the currently subdued demand and supporting the massive divestment program that is running short the target. Given the Budget constraints, the Government needs to maximise collections and spending efficiency in future.
The Government needs to do a tight rope walk in the 2020 Union Budget by balancing the burgeoning fiscal deficit and increasing the borrow at one end and stimulating growth at the other. The need to ..
Read More
The Government should bring in more business-friendly policies, and take steps to reduce regulatory compliance, thereby creating a holistic environment for the ease of doing business. Removal of MAT from SEZ and simplification of domestic sales from SEZ will give required boost to the manufacturing industry. Last but not the least, removal of capital gain from equity transaction will facilitate overall market capitalisation of stock market.
The Government should bring in more business-friendly policies, and take steps to reduce regulatory compliance, thereby creating a holistic environment for the ease of doing business. Removal of MAT ..
Read More
Fund availability has to be made for a conducive and supportive financial environment. This is because the lending fintechs are largely the ones that cater to the masses or the people who are not served by the formal financial institutions. The access to liquidity has to be eased for such fintechs. Though there are many funds which are established for the fintechs, the flow of money for the same has its own unique challenges. There has to be rationalisation of MAT tax rate along with the increase in the minimum threshold for tax exemption as many end up paying taxes despite being eligible for the tax holiday.
Fund availability has to be made for a conducive and supportive financial environment. This is because the lending fintechs are largely the ones that cater to the masses or the people who are not ser..
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This year’s Budget is being eagerly awaited by all stakeholders as the need of the hour is to revive consumer demand which in turn will spur economic growth. To tackle this, a reduction in personal income-tax rates through concessions in tax slabs, and an increase in welfare spends will boost spending. With the dip in foreign investment currently impacting businesses, steps towards a healthy economy will improve foreign investor confidence and attract more international investments. To reduce the burden on business owners, the Government should initiate the simplification of various tax-related compliance and faster processing of tax refunds.
This year’s Budget is being eagerly awaited by all stakeholders as the need of the hour is to revive consumer demand which in turn will spur economic growth. To tackle this, a reduction in personal i..
Read More
There has been a downturn in the overall auto industry lately, and the challenges have directly affected the mainstream luxury car industry. The pre-owned luxury car segment is eyeing 50% growth with this year’s Union Budget. We expect the Government to align its electric mobility vision with challenges faced by automakers and auto-dealers in terms of innovation and elasticity. The automobile sector is a crucial contributor in country’s GDP. Hence, the Government must take steps to ease the implementation of Bharat Stage VI norms which may lower the demand until the public fully understands the policies.
There has been a downturn in the overall auto industry lately, and the challenges have directly affected the mainstream luxury car industry. The pre-owned luxury car segment is eyeing 50% growth with..
