Not a bold enough move: Sumit Dutt Majumdar
 "Not a bold enough move: Sumit Dutt Majumdar")
The Budget reflects a perceptible shift in the government's strategy. In the first two Budgets, the stress was on manufacturing through heavy public investments in roads, power generation and other infrastructure projects.
The economic activities revolved around the theme Make In India. Welfare measures were not a priority. But now, the focus is on the social sector - health and education, in particular. All this is good, but not much has been said about how the extra money needed for these expenditures will be generated, although the finance minister has assured that he would stick to the fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per in 2016-17.
Read our full coverage on Union Budget 2016
On the goods and services tax, these is no clear signal about its introduction by April 2017 by proposing alignment of the central excise and service tax structures with that of the GST. The thresholds for central excise and service tax have not been changed to bring them near the proposed GST threshold of Rs 25 lakhs; the number of tax rates and exemptions in central excise has not been substantially reduced so as to prepare the taxpayers for the GST. Summing up, it has not been a bold budget based purely on economic considerations.
The economic activities revolved around the theme Make In India. Welfare measures were not a priority. But now, the focus is on the social sector - health and education, in particular. All this is good, but not much has been said about how the extra money needed for these expenditures will be generated, although the finance minister has assured that he would stick to the fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per in 2016-17.
Read our full coverage on Union Budget 2016
On the goods and services tax, these is no clear signal about its introduction by April 2017 by proposing alignment of the central excise and service tax structures with that of the GST. The thresholds for central excise and service tax have not been changed to bring them near the proposed GST threshold of Rs 25 lakhs; the number of tax rates and exemptions in central excise has not been substantially reduced so as to prepare the taxpayers for the GST. Summing up, it has not been a bold budget based purely on economic considerations.
Sumit Dutt Majumdar
Former chairman, Central Board of Excise & Custom
Former chairman, Central Board of Excise & Custom
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First Published: Mar 01 2016 | 12:04 AM IST