“After unleashing a set of reforms last year, this year’s budget laid emphasis on growth, went a step ahead to increase allocation of capex and also allocate spending to states. The fiscal deficit for Financial Year 2022-23 is budgeted around 6.4%, which would have been down to 6% if the allocation of Rs 1 lakh crore was not made to the states,” said Mr Tarun Bajaj, Revenue Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Mr Bajaj was addressing the industry at the Union Budget 2022-23: Interactive Session with Ministry of Finance, organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Mr Tarun Bajaj elaborated that while the Government has brought pathbreaking tax reforms in recent years, areas like GST and personal income tax are still work in progress and would require more attention in the months to come.

Mr Tarun Bajaj mentioned that the capital gains tax structure requires rework with respect to its rates and holding period. He clarified that the Government has avoided annexures to Part A of the Budget this time, and the details have instead been included in the Memorandum explaining the provisions of the Finance Bill, for the sake of clarity and simplicity. He also highlighted that the proposal for criminal liability on publishing customs data is aimed at hackers and criminals, and not towards legally published information.

Mr Sanjiv Bajaj, President-Designate, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) mentioned that given the continued efforts of the Government towards simplicity of tax laws, a large part of this year’s Union Budget is about implementation on the ground.

Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said that the Budget focuses on stability and predictability of the tax regime, which would help to nurture the incipient signs of recovery currently underway in the Indian economy.

Speaking at the Technical Session, Mr J B Mohapatra, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance said that the Union Budget has not created anything new but has brought a lot of changes to enhance the ease of paying taxes and provide comfort to the taxpayers. Many proposals have been incorporated to streamline the assessment procedure and bring simplifications to the Income Tax Act.

Mr Vivek Johri, Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance highlighted that the abiding theme for the indirect tax proposals in this year’s Budget has been the simplification and rationalization of customs tariff structure. While maintaining the balance of availability of essential raw materials at concessional or nil duty, this exercise would also give impetus to manufacturing in India.

9 February 2022