City CAs laud Budget provisions

NAGPUR: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India’s (ICAI) Nagpur branch organized a programme titled “Immediate reaction on union interim budget” on Monday, where expert chartered accountants from the city expressed their views.
Speaking on direct taxes proposals, Kapil Bahri said in economical turbulent times, the minister performed a commendable job by presenting a Budget away from populist announcements.He said more than 170 provisions in the Income Tax Act, 1961, were amended that will have a major impact on procedural compliances.
Explaining about indirect taxes, Hemant Rajandekar said various provisions and amendments in several notifications were made to widen the tax base. He was of the opinion that the government intends to widen scope of service tax by slowly shifting services from negative list to mega exemption list. He also said that unlike Swach Bharat Cess, Krushi Kalyan Cess at 0.50%, introduced on Monday, would be available to credit in Cenvat.
Deliberating on impact on capital market, Ranjit Dani said cascading effect due to increased expenditure in infrastructure, road and railways, will have a positive impact.
Talking on trade and industry perspective, Suresh Rathi discussed about nine pillars envisaged by the minister while expressing displeasure over not giving any major incentive for manufacturing sector, since several incentives were expected in line with ‘Make in India’ vision of the government.
Atul Deshmukh termed the Budget as socialistic, where special incentives at all levels were made for the social sector. He lauded government’s efforts for allocating over Rs 2 lakh crore in infrastructure sector in rural areas and steps undertaken to increase digital literacy in rural parts of the country.