Industry body wants more sops for north-east
In the first round of pre-budget 2007-08 meetings, Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has urged the finance ministry to consider special incentives for industrialisation of the north-east.
By TNN |
KOLKATA: In the first round of pre-budget 2007-08 meetings, Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has urged the finance ministry to consider special incentives for industrialisation of the north-east.
The chamber feels this region needs more incentives than what is being doled out by the government to Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh.
“Several industries, even from this region, are planning to invest in Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh due to incentives. But the state government needs to integrate the north-east with the rest of the country to turn it into a popular investment destination,” DB Desai, chairman (expert committee on taxation), ICC, told mediapersons.
The chamber has also urged the finance ministry to focus on SMEs and consider total exemption from service tax for these units. “SMEs have a comparatively higher potential for job creation and there should be differential tax rates for such units,” said Mr Desai.
Incidentally, ICC was the only chamber from eastern India to have represented the business community of the region to provide its sug-gestion to the government. The meet was held in November with top finance ministry officials in Delhi. ICC feels the government should also focus on the food processing sector in a big way.
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The chamber urged the government to provide tax holiday for the sector, exemption from excise duty and other forms of indirect tax. “Only 2% of fruits and vegetables are processed in India compared to 70% in Brazil, 78% in Philippines and 83% in Malaysia. The potential of employment generation of this industry is much higher — nearly 54,000 people get direct employment per Rs 1,000 crore of investment, compared to 48,000 in textiles and 25,000 in paper industry,” said Rajeev Singh, secretary general, ICC.
The chamber has lobbied for concession to traditional industries like tea and jute. It has also made suggestions that fringe benefit tax on conveyance should be brought down to 5% from 20% and hospitalisation expenses should be exempted.
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