In a bid to boost consumption by enhancing households’ disposable incomes, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has urged the Centre to slash the excise duty levied on petrol and diesel, stressing that global crude oil prices have fallen more than 40% while retail prices of petrol in the capital have been reduced by just ₹1.8 per litre.
In addition to a cut in India’s high petroleum taxes, CII has also mooted granting some relief in income tax for those with taxable income of up to ₹20 lakh a year, raising the minimum wage under the rural employment guarantee scheme to ₹375 a day from the present level of ₹267, and increasing annual benefits under the PM Kisan scheme to ₹8,000 from ₹6,000.
Apart from these steps to boost consumption mooted in pre-Budget consultations with Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra on Tuesday, CII president Sanjiv Puri also requested the government to ring in reforms in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime by switching to a three-tier rate structure and including items like petroleum, real estate and electricity that are currently outside its ambit.
Mr. Puri also suggested creating a social security fund for gig and platform workers, along with the introduction of employment-linked incentive scheme for labour-intensive sectors with high growth potential.
