Budget 2002 - Wish List

Steel

In its pre-budget memorandum, Ficci has said that the excise duty on galvanised steel should be halved to 8 per cent to encourage consumption.

The chamber has said that the increase in use would offset the loss of revenue resulting from the excise duty cut. CII has pointed out there has been an anomaly resulting from import of blank coins at zero custom duty.

Ficci has also said that the steel used in the construction, housing and infrastructure sectors should be brought under the value added tax net.

It has also sought lowering customs duty on steel raw material and imported consumables to five per cent as they constitute a major portion of the cost of production for refractories, casting, powder, zinc, graphite and electrodes and are not available indigenously.

CII, on the other hand, has said that supplies of Indian steel to projects/industries enjoying concessional duty under project import condition should be treated as deemed export.

It has also recommended a review of zero duty on Nepalese imports and called for its restriction to those products for which inputs are sourced from Nepal or India.

To give a leg-up to the steel industry, the chamber has said that the facility of paying excise duty at the ex-factory price on steel sold from stock-yards should be extended to all steel manufacturers and the benefit allowed if any subsequent operations are carried out in another plant of the same manufacturer in the same region.

My budget

Sanjiv Goenka

Vice chairman, RPG Enterprises

My Budget wish is...

There should be greater emphasis on investment in the infrastructure sector and a lowering of corporate tax.

To help my sector grow...

The media and entertainment industry should be given tax incentives like the IT sector.

Did you know?

The man who has presented the maximum number of Budgets so far couldn