The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Tuesday urged the government to provide more fiscal support in the next budget to sustain liquidity and the recovery process of the economy.
In course of their pre-budget interaction with Revenue Secretary P. V. Bhide, the FICCI delegation pleaded with the government to be cautious in rolling back the stimulus packages that had been provided to beat the slowdown. FICCI President Harsh Pati Singhania said that industry was aware of the problem of high fiscal deficit but hoped that the government could resume its FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) targets only after the economy had recovered well from the present crisis.
In view of the current crisis, FICCI suggested that the peak rate of income-tax be made applicable on an annual income of over Rs. 10 lakh and to provide greater tax concessions for housing loans to benefit both the common man and the realty sector.
The federation also urged the government to retain the peak custom duty of 10 per cent for the time being hoping that the government’s effort to align the tariff rates with other Asian countries would be calibrated with internal reforms.
FICCI also demanded incentives for private investment in agri infrastructure and research and development and tax holidays for oil and gas sector besides restoring investment allowance to the earlier level of 25 per cent.
