Session on Post Budget Analysis by CII

KOCHI:
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) organized an interactive session on ‘Post Budget Analysis’ on 2 Feb. 17 to understand implications of the budget presented on 1 Feb’17 on various sectors. Sushma N, Director, PWC and  Hari Ganesh V , Manager (Indirect Tax) – PwC presented their interpretation of the implications of the budget, especially in the backdrop of demonetisation and the GST the government is planning to implement.
With respect to Direct Tax, the government has proposed over 85 direct tax amendments, many of which are welcome moves said Sushma. She explained in detail the proposals put forward by the economy from various perspectives of strengthening infrastructure, regulatory, digitalization of the economy, amongst many others. The amendments were majorly concentrating on the foreign direct investments into India, its liberalization and the regulations pertaining to it. In order to honour the honest and small tax payers (less than 5 lakhs of gross total income), the government has reduced the tax rate from 10% to 5%. There were also few changes in the transfer pricing regulations with respect to the abolishment of domestic transfer pricing, thin capitalization, etc.,
With respect to indirect tax, Hari Ganesh has pointed out that there were no major changes in the current excise and service tax regime with the focus of GST in mind. The abolishment of Research & Development Cess is the welcome step which would clearly save 5% for imports of technology from the foreign company. There were few major procedural amendments in the customs with respect to the payment of customs duty and timelines for filing of the bill of entry with Customs.
With regard to the GST, a major indirect tax reform, the Government focus would be to implement GST in India w.e.f July 2017. Hari Ganesh informed that the government’s IT system is ready and the same is being tested for roll out. The key next steps for the government were passage of the GST bills, finalizing the rates and announcing the rules to the industry. The industry should now focus on the impact assessment of GST with respect to their pricing, working capital, supply chain, etc., Also on the Information technology front, the industry should start to gear up their IT systems for GST compliance, advised Ganesh. With the proper implementation of GST in india, the main objective of the growth of the nation can be achieved certainly, he concluded.
Further panel discussions with industry representatives from various sectors were also held. A Gopalakrishnan, Member, CII Kerala State Council &Senior Partner, K Venkatachalam Aiyer & Co, Shivdas B Menon, Past Chairman, CII Kerala & Managing Director, Sterling Group, Ravi Anand, Member, CII Kerala & CFO, SBU-A, Harrisons Malayalam Limited, Vinod Manjila, Convenor, Agri & Food Processing Panel, CII Kerala & Partner, A J Foods, Vivek K Govind, Member CII Kerala & Partner, Varma & Varma were the key panellists and
over 100 industrialists participated in the discussions. The panellists opined that this was a very forward looking budget and presented huge opportunities for the industry.