Budget 2019: Infrastructure sector seeks more capital and tax rebates

Infrastructure sector has sought more capital and tax rebates for creating sustainable and stable opportunities.

In a pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday stakeholders from infrastructure and climate change sectors suggested introduction of tax-free bonds to boost investment, streamlining of land acquisition process, creation of Green Technology Acceleration Fund to promote renewable energy.

In a statement the finance ministry said that the main areas of discussion included ways to bring in more capital to the infrastructure sector including incentives for electric vehicles as well as for the Green Sector including renewable energy among others.


Other suggestions were to contain the rising cost of infrastructure projects, rationalisation of various levies in infrastructure sector, fiscal incentives for development of Electric Vehicles industry, greater emphasis on recycling/up-cycling of waste material, and imparting infrastructure status to renewable energy sector.

Besides finance ministry official those who attended the meeting included Nagendranath Sinha, Chairman, NHAI, Sanjeev Kumar Lohia, MD & CEO, Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation, Ajay Mathur, DG, TERI, and Manoj Kohli, Executive MD, SB Energy (Softbank Group).