Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget 2017 in parliament today. A couple of months ago, through demonetization of high value Indian currency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that he is leaving no stone unturned to steer the nation to growth and development. Finance Minister too while presenting this budget today, shared that the financial budget has been prepared keeping the common man of India in mind. This financial budget indicates that financial policies and plans will be introduced such that the honest are rewarded and those who are indulging in wrong financial activities or transactions will be penalised.
Coimbatore too watched the budget being presented in parliament today. Post the presentation of the financial budget, the Coimbatore chapter of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry was quick to react. D. Balasundaram, past president, of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore chapter while addressing the media, stated that overall this financial budget for FY 2017-18, is good as it is aimed at economic growth and development.
Quoting important points from this year’s financial budget he said “Personal income tax rate cut to 5% for individuals having income between Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. 10% surcharge on individual income above Rs 50 lakh and upto Rs 1 cr to make up for Rs 15,000 cr loss of due to cut in personal I-T rate. 15% surcharge on income above Rs 1 cr to continue as it currently is. This automatically creates a new class of tax payers and the country at large stands to benefit.”
When asked if this modification in this tax bracket will impact the citizens of Coimbatore, Balasundaram stated “To the best of my knowledge, the people of Coimbatore have the reputation of paying up their taxes. Even commercial establishments, industries and companies do not come in the defaulters list.” Another good news for debut personal income tax payers is that they will not come under any government scrutiny. The government by making this announcement is hopeful that tax-evaders will wake up and file their personal income tax. If we have got the calculations right, actual revenue loss on tax proposals Rs 22,700 cr; gain from additional resource mobilisation is Rs 2,700 cr.
Moving the focus to Coimbatore which is an industrial hub, Balasundaram stated that “To make MSME companies more viable, govt proposes to reduce IT tax with annual turnover of Rs 50 core up to 25 per cent. More than 90% of the companies in India are small or medium sized and in Coimbatore too, a majority of companies are MSMEs. This announcement by the FM is certainly a welcome move for our region.”