India Inc has sought reduction in excise duty rate, extension of short-term stimulus to all capital goods, increased ease in doing business and reduction in the threshold limit of investment allowance in the forthcoming Budget.

Minister of State for Commerce (Independent Charge) Nirmala Sitharaman met representatives from industry bodies CII and FICCI on Thursday to discuss the industry’s Budget expectations.

“It was a very interactive and useful session. Lots of ideas have come. Several issues related to Budget also came up for discussion. I will discuss them with the Finance Minister,” Sitharaman told reporters after the meeting.

Industry representatives voiced their concern over declining growth in manufacturing and made a case for fiscal consolidation.

“We talked about how we can encourage Special Economic Zones deal with increasing cost of doing business and bring down high transaction cost,” CII President Ajay Shriram said.

The delegation pressed on the need for bringing down excise duties, including continuation of reduced excise on automobiles set to lapse on June 20. Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram had reduced excise duties on small cars, scooters, motorcycles and commercial vehicles to 8 per cent from 12 per cent in the Interim Budget. Duty cuts were also made for SUVs and large cars.

“Without the growth in the auto sector, it will be difficult for the country to grow in double digits. We made a very strong request about the continuation of excise duty relaxation for the sector in the Budget,” said Pawan Goenka, Executive Director, Mahindra & Mahindra.

Industry body FICCI suggested a number of measures to enhance ease of doing business including setting up of a Regulatory Review Committee to review business regulations, laws and processes, giving States flexibility to amend or implement laws on concurrent list subjects like labour, environment, increasing use of information technology in public service delivery, and reducing compliance through common application, self-certification and third party certification.

Industry representatives also asked for 25 per cent accelerated depreciation for investment in plant & machinery and reduction in the threshold limit of investment allowance to ₹50 crore.

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