Soaps and Toilet
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) has suggested that laundry soaps manufactured by any process should be exempted from the excise duty. The chamber has said since these products are being imported at much cheaper prices, domestic manufacturers are finding it difficult to compete with them. Further, 8 per cent hike in the excise duty in the last Budget has aggravated the problem.
Ficci has also said that toilet preparations should not be subject to the special excise duty. The items should attract only normal central value-added tax of 16 per cent. The total incidence on toilet preparations should, thus, be reduced from 32 per cent to 16 per cent.
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The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said customs duty on industrial oils used in the manufacturing of toilet soaps should be reduced from 35 per cent to 25 per cent. The excise duty on cosmetics and toiletries containing alcohol should be reduced from the present level of 50 per cent to 32 per cent with the maximum retail price abatement of 50 per cent.
Did you know?
When the Janata Party government collapsed after a brief rule, the economy was in deep trouble. Pranab Mukherjee, while presenting his Budget for 1982-83, mentioned that the gross national product had declined by as much as 4.8 per cent in 1979-80 and prices had increased at an annual rate of 23.3 per cent by the end of January 1980. To the relief of the middle class, at the end of January 1982, the inflation rate on a point-to-point basis came down to 4.9 per cent.
The oil sector was thrown open to foreign companies for the first time in 1981-82. And, the credit for this goes to R Venkataraman who allowed the entry of foreign oil companies, on production sharing basis, to speed up the pace of exploration and development of potential oilfields. The 1981 Budget also gave generous tax breaks to attract foreign companies. The results were quite encouraging.
My Budget
Peter Mukerjea
Chief Executive, Star India
My Budget wish is...
that broadcasting should be brought in line with the information technology sector, particularly where the customs duty on equipment is concerned. Besides, the 5 per cent service tax on broadcasting services should be withdrawn.
To help my sector grow...
The budget should fix the advance tax payable by broadcasters as it is impossible to predict the revenue earning capacity of any new programme or film that goes on air.