NEW DELHI: The upcoming Budget 2021-22 must reinvigorate demand, focus on increasing outlay for infrastructure and social sector projects, says India Inc. “The Budget must focus on creating demand, encourage infrastructure spending and increase outlays for the social sector.
These are the top three macroeconomic themes, which members of India Inc would like to see in the upcoming Budget,” a survey conducted by Ficci and Dhruva Advisors showed. Besides, the budget should also continue with the Centre’s policy focus on strengthening the manufacturing sector while promoting research and development (R&D) and incentivising new technologies, according to the survey.
“Demand has improved in a few sectors of the economy, but we need to watch this trend to see if the improvement continues in a sustained manner. There are many other sectors that still require continued government support in the recovery process. Given this, strengthening demand should be a clear priority and the tax policy should be used to meet this objective,” the survey report said.
According to the survey results, about 40 per cent of the participants feel that ‘personal tax relief’ should be the key theme of direct tax proposals. Further, nearly 47 per cent have sought ‘widening of the tax slabs’ in the budget.