Industry body to soon submit Budget proposal for MSMEs

Indian Industries Association (IIA), representing the small-scale industry, will soon submit a budget proposal for the development and promotion of the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector.

The proposal, to be submitted within 10 days to the union finance and MSME ministries, would be included in the soon-to-be-presented Union Budget.

The association has formed an expert group for deliberations, brainstorming and preparing a pre-budget memorandum, IIA executive director DS Verma said.

The group has already held its first meeting, which discussed all aspects of direct and indirect taxation affecting MSMEs in particular and all tax payers in general.

Besides, the experts also gave recommendations on the proposed goods and services tax (GST), abolishing of central sales tax (CST), anomalies in value-added tax (VAT).

The ground level feedback has also been invited directly from all the 7,000 IIA members to have a comprehensive view on the subject.

IIA presents its budget proposal every year to the Centre after a detailed pre-budget exercise. As a special effort, IIA constituted an expert panel this year so that the MSME sector gets due attention in the forthcoming Union Budget.

IIA president Praveen Sadana said with the formation of the new government, there was renewed hope for some concrete action for the uplift of the MSME sector.

“During a meeting with IIA officials on December 8, 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured of all support to MSMEs,” he added.