CICU reaction to Union Budget 2015-16

Ludhiana, February 28, 2015: Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU),  Ludhiana has reacted to the Union Budget (2015-16) as under: 

•         Excise Duty has been increased from 12.36% to 12.50% to protect domestic steel producers which is a major disadvantage to MSME Industry.  CICU has requested and urged upon the Hon’ble Minister of Finance for rolling back the increase.

•         Increase in Service Tax plus Education cesses from 12.36% to 14% and its coverage on other services is a causing concern for the Industry.

•         2% Surcharge imposed on annual Income above Rs.1.00 crore will discourage honest tax payers.

However both of them have appreciated this Budget due to following main reasons:

 •         Corporate tax reduced from 30% to 25% over the next four years, starting from next financial year.

•         ‘Make-in-India’ Program is aimed at raising share of manufacturing in GDP and creating jobs.  National Skilled Mission be launched to develop employability of youths, especially; below 25 years of age.

•         Basic Custom duty on certain inputs, raw materials, inter mediates and components in22 items, reduced to minimise the impact of duty inversion. Balance of 50% of additional depreciation @ 20% for new plant and machinery installed and used for less than six months by a manufacturing unit or a unit engaged in generation and distribution of power is to be allowed immediately in the next year.

•         Wealth-tax replaced with additional surcharge of 2 per cent on super rich with a taxable income of over 1 crore annually.

•         Central excise/Service tax assesses to be allowed to use digitally signed invoices and maintain record electronically. Time limit for taking CENVAT credit on inputs and input services increased from 6 months to 1 year.

•         Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank, with a corpus of 20,000 crores, and credit guarantee corpus of 3,000 crores to be created. Bank will be responsible for refinancing all Micro-finance Institutions which are in the business of lending to such small entities of business through a Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.