New Delhi [India], February 6 : Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey has emphasized the government's commitment to maintaining fiscal discipline while fostering economic growth, stating that the Union Budget 2024-25 is "absolutely non-inflationary".
Speaking at a programme organized by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), he highlighted the government's long-term vision for India's economic progress and the key policy measures designed to support businesses, startups, and voluntary tax compliance.
Referring to the global economic challenges, Pandey acknowledged that the current environment is not very encouraging for trade and growth.
"There is not a very encouraging environment globally for growth and also for trade and at the same time, we have a very big vision, our vision to be Viksit Bharat by 2047. A lot has been done for startups, not only in terms of tax holiday that is provided and another five-year extension has been given for the period of incorporation, but also for the Rs 10,000 crore additional fund of funds."
Pandey also spoke about the government's efforts to enhance voluntary tax compliance, noting that 99.7 per cent of tax returns are self-assessed, with scrutiny being limited to a mere 0.3 per cent.
"We promote voluntary compliance. We had 90 lakh, almost a crore new, updated returns. Rs 8000 to 9000 crore extra in taxes came voluntarily. There was a question, of course: why are we charging 70 per cent tax on updated returns? That's not true. Let me update you. It is not 70 per cent of the total tax. It's 70 per cent on additional tax."
CBIC Chairman Sanjay Kumar Agarwal shed light on the government's post-July 2024 customs duty rationalisation efforts.
"Government undertook rate rationalisation on customs duty structure post-July 2024. Eight thousand five hundred tariff lines related to industry out of a total of 12,500 lines have been rationalised. Food tariffs, and textile tariff lines have been left untouched in the customs rationalisation exercise," he said.
"Similarly, like many other items like capital goods for use of list manufacture, lithium-ion cells, for the manufacture of EVs or mobile phones have been exempted," he added.
Agarwal highlighted the steps taken to boost exports, emphasizing that a two-year time limit has been introduced for provisional assessment of customs duties.
"To promote exports, many steps have been taken in this budget. We agree that there should not be any overreach because the idea is not to maximise the revenue. The idea is to collect the revenue which is due to the government," he said.
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