The next 5-6 months could see buoyancy returning to the manufacturing sector as the various duty concessions announced in the budget gets utilised, Revenue Secretary Shaktikantha Das has said.
India Inc should proactively seize the opportunities thrown open by the budget and help India quickly return to the high growth trajectory seen few years ago, Das said at a post-budget meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here.
The Revenue Secretary pointed out that the Centre's decision to extend the validity of concessional excise regime for automobile and consumer durables till December was already showing results in terms of better sales numbers in June.
Das reiterated that the new Modi-led Government was yet to take a call on the matter of re-introduction of General Anti-Avoidance Rules from April 1,2015.
"The issue of GAAR was not on the table for this latest budget. This was not an issue on which the Government had to make an announcement in this budget itself," he said.
GAAR was not on the agenda for the budget because there was eight more months left for a decision on this matter, Das said.
"The current legal position is that GAAR is in abeyance till March 2015. This does not mean that the Govenment has taken a decision to re-introduce GAAR from April 1, 2015.''
Das also said that the Centre was committed to introduce goods and sevices tax during this fiscal.
Areas to be addressed
Speaking on the occasion, Ajay Shriram, President, CII, hailed the budget proposals even as he outlined few areas where the industry would have preferred to see more steps.
These include specifying a definite timeline for goods and services tax (GST) implementation, assurance that the latest draft of the direct taxes code Bill will get revamped and also a revisit of the applicability of minimum alternate tax on SEZs and infrastructure.
On direct taxes code, the CII President said that the philosophy of a simple and stable tax structure with reasonable rates and bereft of exemptions has been lost due to many iterations of the code.
The new direct taxes code should aim at predictability, transparency and minimal incentives and exemptions, as noted in the Economic survey, he added.
Ajay Shriram said the industry would have also liked to see deferral of GAAR beyond the current stipulated date.