• Notification Date: 31-01-2024
• Notification No: N/A

More Urban Jobs, Rationalising GST, boosting Housing Demand - CII's Wishlist

Capex Momentum: One of the important factors behind India's continuing economic growth has been the government's focus on increased spending on roads, airports, railway tracks, and bridges. The CII wishes that this focus is not lost. It recommended an increase in capex by at least 20 percent to Rs 12 lakh crore. 

Fiscal Consolidation: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman should focus on balancing fiscal consolidation and economic growth, the CII wishlist states, adding that the fiscal deficit target should be cut down to around 5.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the next financial year. 

Rationalising GST: CII pointed towards streamlining the GST structure by pruning the tax to a three-rate structure, with a standard rate for most goods, a low rate for essential goods, and a high rate for luxury and demerit goods. 

More Urban Jobs: To boost employment in urban areas, CII suggested the start of a few pilot projects under an urban employment guarantee program. 

Boosting Housing Demand: CII suggested to extend the interest subvention scheme for low-cost housing to cover total housing costs up to Rs 35 lakh instead of Rs 25 lakh. 

Enhancing India's Logistics: CII pointed towards timely implementation of the National Logistics Policy which focuses on lowering the cost of logistics to a level at par with developed countries. 

Speeding up Disinvestment: CII suggested a process that aims to help put the asset sale programme back in the fast lane. The model entails prioritising those public sector enterprises where investor interest is high. For state-run enterprises, the industry body has sought a three-year schedule for disinvestment. 

Boosting Manufacturing and PLI Expansion: CII proposed extending the last date of the concessional rate of 15 percent tax for eligible manufacturing units to March 31, 2025. The industry body also recommended expanding the PLI (production linked incentive) scheme to labour-intensive sectors, such as apparel, toys, and footwear to boost employment generation. 

Reducing Tax Litigation: The CII recommended reducing tax litigations by improving dispute redressal mechanisms such as the Faceless Appeals, Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) mechanism, Board for Advance Ruling (BAR), and Dispute Resolution Scheme (DRS). 

Ease of Doing Business: The CII proposed that all business regulatory approvals should come through the National Single Window System (NSWS). It also expected a further enhancement of the dispute resolution mechanism.