Though corporate taxes were not reduced the way the industry was expecting, Indian corporates cheered other measures that were announced in the Budget for 2017-18 to boost the economy and industry. “Overall it was a well-balanced budget with the key themes being rural development, poverty alleviation, enabling job creation, skilling and enhancing infrastructure, while also balancing the need to maintain fiscal prudence,” said Preetha Reddy, Executive Vice-Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals Group.
The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley lowered the fiscal deficit target to 3.2 percent of the GDP. Further, the government lowered the tax rate on MSMEs having a turnover of less than Rs 50 crore to 25 per cent. The MSME sector is one of the largest employers in India, and this comes as a boon as the sector was hit hard by demonetisation.
“From an India Inc. perspective, there were two welcome points,” stated Reddy. “Enabling carry forward of MAT credit for 15 years as compared to 10 years, and the move to reduce tax rates for corporates in the MSME sector.” However, she said that tax reduction could have been extended to all corporates, especially given that a lot of exemptions are being phased out. When it came to the healthcare sector, she said that there was an expectation that it would be accorded a national priority sector status. In the absence of that, however, she said the structural reform in medical education, in particular, the increase in the number of post-graduate medical seats and DNB courses is ‘praiseworthy’, as it was long-awaited.
“We do hope that the health policies will address the large unmet need for quality healthcare infrastructure, and in particular, the need to wage a war on non-communicable diseases which the private sector has been today taking a lead on directly,” she said.