India Budget FY17 to Boost Rural Infrastructure

World Trade Centre Mumbai and All India Association of Industries (AIAI) jointly organized an interactive panel discussion on ‘Implications of the Union Budget 2016-17’ with special emphasis on direct and indirect taxes on 3rd March, 2016.

Mr. Ravinder Saroop, IRS, Commissioner of Central Excise & Service Tax, Large Taxpayer Unit Mumbai, delivering the keynote address during the event, remarked that the Union Budget 2016-17 was a welcome balancing act of adhering to the fiscal prudence and at the same time addressing the infrastructure needs of the rural areas. The finance minister has taken various tax measures keeping in mind the interest of small tax payers, promotion of Make in India, simplification and rationalization of tax structure and other progressive goals, Mr. Saroop mentioned.

Mr. Firoze B. Andhyarujina, Senior Advocate, High Court Mumbai, delivering the special address at this event, welcomed some of the progressive steps like hike in the turnover limit for small and medium enterprises under the presumptive taxation scheme and extension of this scheme even to professionals. However, Mr. Andhyarujina was critical on the imposition of additional tax of 10% on recipients of dividend of more than Rs 10 lakh.

Mr. Dadi B Engineer, Senior Partner, Crawford Bayley & Co applauded the government for sticking to the fiscal deficit target of 3.5% and thereby maintaining fiscal prudence.

Mr. M. S. Mani, Senior Director - Indirect Tax, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd remarked that the budget has tried to rationalize and simplify the compliance procedure for tax payers. He pointed out that 95% of the tax provisions in the budget are aimed at rationalization of procedures.

Earlier in his welcome address, Capt. Somesh Batra, Vice Chairman, World Trade Centre Mumbai remarked, “Through this budget, the government has tried to achieve the triple goals of supporting the rural economy, improving the ease of doing business and creating a non-adversarial tax regime.

Delivering the vote of thanks for the budget session, Mr. Vijay Kalantri, Vice Chairman, World Trade Centre Mumbai pointed out that this is the first time the union budget is addressing rural growth concerns after a gap of 13 years. He raised hope that the budgetary measures towards boosting rural infrastructure would bear fruits in the next one year.

Caption: From (L to R): Mr. M. S. Mani, Senior Director - Indirect Tax, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd, Mr. Vijay Kalantri, Vice Chairman, World Trade Centre Mumbai, Mr. Ravinder Saroop, IRS, Commissioner of Central Excise & Service Tax, Large Taxpayer Unit Mumbai, Capt. Somesh Batra, Vice Chairman, World Trade Centre Mumbai, Mr. Firoze B. Andhyarujina, Senior Advocate, High Court Mumbai on the sidelines of the panel discussion on 'Implications of the Union Budget 2016-17'.