Hyderabad: With consumption declining, Telangana Inc has advocated not just industry-related tax incentives but also income tax breaks in the upcoming Union Budget to boost the purchasing power of the ‘aam aadmi’.
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Telangana chairman, Sai D Prasad, called for an increase in income tax exemption limits as well as a 100% interest deduction on home loans to spur the realty sector and boost disposable incomes of the middle class. He also proposed simplification of the tax code by merging multiple surcharges and cess into fewer categories.
Prasad, who is also executive director of vaccine maker Bharat Biotech, also sought higher weighted deductions for R&D expenditure to spur innovation and advocated a 100% tax deduction on CSR spending above the 2% mandatory spend.
The Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FTCCI), on the other hand, urged Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to extend the house rent allowance (HRA) exemption benefit to payment of home loan EMIs as well. It has also sought an increase in standard deduction limits based on the cost of the inflation index, a change in tax slabs with zero tax up to an income of Rs 5 lakh, and an increase in exemption limits for medical insurance premiums as well as savings interest income.
FTCCI has also demanded the removal of customs duty exemptions on certain imported components such as bulk drugs for insulin production, raw materials for lab-grown diamonds, plastics for optical fibre productions, LED and LCD TV panel parts, and equipment for coal mining and power generation. It has also sought a reduction in import duties on lifesaving equipment, tax incentives to domestic medical equipment manufacturers, and incentivisation of medical value travel.
Industry leaders also stressed the need to simplify the Goods & Services Tax (GST) structure and bring petroleum, electricity, and natural gas under the GST regime for seamless tax credits while ensuring a better GST compliance framework for MSMEs and more MSME-friendly policies and support mechanisms.
IT sector bats for upping EoDB quotient for GCCs
With India emerging as a global capability centres (GCC) hub for multinationals, IT industry honchos have urged the FM to create an enabling framework to attract more GCCs, which have emerged as major job creators .
Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA) president Prashanth Nandella batted for policies to elevate the role of GCCs in the value chain by driving innovation and exporting cutting-edge solutions to their parent organisations.
KS Vishwanathan, senior industry advisor at ANSR and former Nasscom VP, called for simplifying EoDB for GCCs by treating them as global corporations with additional offices in India instead of separate Indian companies. He also urged govt to remove or raise limits on safe harbour provisions as the current limit of Rs 200 crore or $20 million is too low for most GCCs and simplify the transfer pricing mechanism to reduce litigation.
He also called for the creation of a separate segment for GCCs within the IT/ITeS classification for tax purposes. “Govt needs to realise that GCCs don’t make profits like regular IT companies and operate on markup pricing. This can be done without parliamentary approval, through a finance ministry notification. Such measures will attract more GCCs,” Vishwanathan said.
HYSEA’s Nandella also sought extension of tax exemptions for SEZ units for another 10 years and streamlining of the refund process for IT/ITeS exporters. For startups, he asked for the avoidance of double taxation on ESOPs and called for additional tax rebates and funding support for AI-driven startups.
