CII asks for more reforms in tax code, sustaining capex in FY26 Budget

Industry chamber CII on Thursday pitched for further reforms in the tax system, including through simplification of taxes, as well as sustaining the capital investment momentum in the Budget for 2025-26.

In a meeting with Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra, CII urged the government to increase the capex by 25 per cent over 2024-25 (BE) with a sharp focus on infrastructure related to rural areas, agriculture, and the social sector.

The Budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year is set to be presented on February 1, 2025.

CII President Sanjiv Puri said given the intrinsic strength of the economy and with growth aspirations of the people, this is an opportune time for India to design a blueprint and a template outlining the next phase of reforms.

"India has emerged as the beacon of stability and growth in a fraught world, in the last decade. We are looking at the Union Budget to further consolidate this position and create a competitive India, that is prosperous, inclusive, equitable, environment friendly and technologically advanced," Puri said.

CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said the Budget comes at a time when the world is going through some period of geopolitical and economic uncertainty.

"With the kind of progressive budgets that we have seen in the last few years, we are very hopeful that the trend would continue and we shall see a strongly growth oriented budget. Especially important would be to see how the budget gives a boost to consumption and also gets private sector investments to kick start again," Banerjee said.

CII called for sustaining the cycle of capital investment in areas such as infrastructure to provide a further fillip to growth through a boost to employment and consumption.

CII also made a strong pitch for further reforms in the tax system, including through simplification of taxes, increasing India's tax competitiveness, broadening of tax base and reducing tax litigation to build a globally competitive Indian economy.

The chamber also suggested augmenting government revenues by undertaking disinvestments through gradual stake sales in PSEs to unlock public capital for infrastructure.

The government should take advantage of the current boom in the stock market to bring down its stake in PSEs to 51 per cent, so that it retains its position as the single largest owner of the PSE, the CII said in its suggestion to senior finance ministry officials.