• Notification Date: 25-01-2025
• Notification No: N/A

Indian CEOs call for tax relief and streamlined GST to revive consumption and boost economic growth: Survey Insights

As many as 86.7% of Indian CEOs feel that simplification of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and income tax cuts are some of the key measures needed to revive consumption and prop up the economy, a recent survey by Moneycontrol-Deloitte for its CEOs said.

The Moneycontrol-Deloitte CEO survey was conducted between January 10 and 22 with 45 CEOs from key sectors of financial services, consumer goods, technology, and energy.

Tax relief was viewed as the primary stimulus to increase disposable income, thereby raising consumer spending and aggregate consumption growth in India. Infrastructure spending that could generate semi-skilled employment opportunities in tier-1 and tier-2 cities was considered most important by 57.8% of CEOs. Job creation schemes were also thought necessary to make way for economic revival and growth, according to 55.6% of the CEOs.

Besides tax relief and infrastructure spending, 40% of the CEOs insisted on inflation, specifically food inflation, being maintained throughout the entire calendar year of 2024. The second prominent suggestion came through direct transfers and subsidies to the poor, with which 15.6% estimated demand stimulation that would cater to the needy section.

Survey responses also mirror this at a time when growth in the GDP of India has started to decelerate, which is suggesting that the seven-quarter low of 5.4% in Q2 FY25 is not a solitary instance and at a time when the first eight months of FY25 saw a government capital expenditure that contracted more than 12%. It creates concern for the fiscal health, and hence for the private consumption also. These trends pushed for tax reform, with increased demands for an income tax reduction for salaried employees who would boost disposable income to continue consumption recovery.

The relief on taxes, simplification of GST, and investment in infrastructure demanded by the CEOs hit the right note of rising concern over the country's economic slowdown and its dire need for consumption-based effective measures in terms of employment generation as well as in the control of inflation.