Budget na ho aisa

AHMEDABAD: The industry passing through a lean period must have looked forward to stimulus. But Pranab Mukherjee’s budget for 2012-13 has fallen short of the expectations in more than one ways. The industry captains have not appreciated Mukherjee’s dose of cruelty in levying additional indirect taxes of Rs 45,940 crore for the coming fiscal especially at a time when the industry was plagued with sluggish demand.
It appears that the finance minister has preferred to play safe and while he has attempted to trim the ballooning fiscal deficit, he has steered clear of any harsh measures to reverse the increasing fiscal deficit. Be it Direct Tax Code or GST, he has only pledged the reforms without exactly spelling out time table or the path. The positive side, however, relates to the infrastructure related announcements which indicate that more sectors would now be eligible for viability Gap Funding under the “Support to PPP in Infrastructure”.
The other sectors which are benefited to a varying extent are power, mining, railways, roads and civil aviation. However, when it came to containing the fiscal deficit, the entire brunt of the burden has fallen on indirect taxes viz. service tax and excise. With this background, the industry which was just starting to revive this quarter will find their margins considerably eaten up. A dose of service tax and excise will make everything the common man uses costly .
Add on to this a steep hike in petrol and diesel prices await him any day! If the buyer is cashstrapped, how can he expect the markets to boom?
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