MUMBAI, Jun 3 (Xinhua) -- Indian companies are seeking a cut in corporate income tax to 25 percent from the prevailing 30 percent in the forthcoming union budget schedule on July 5 by the new government, said a release by industry body -- Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Monday.
Stating that India should target merchandise exports of 400 billion U.S. dollars for 2019-20 from 331 billion U.S. dollars now, CII President Vikram Kirloskar said, "We need to find alternative schemes compatible with WTO to support exporters."
He also suggested fast-tracking free trade agreement negotiations with the European Union.
In 2018-19 (April-March), Indian corporate tax collection was 95.8 billion U.S. dollars out of the total direct tax collection of 161.5 billion U.S. dollars, falling short by 7.4 percent of its budgeted collection of 173.42 billion U.S. dollars. Indirect tax in the form of Good and Service Tax is another form of revenue annually estimated at 161.28 billion U.S. dollars for the government.
"With a landslide electoral victory and new Council of Ministers in place, we expect the Government to engage strongly with industry to ideate and implement impactful policy solutions for double-digit growth," said Kirloskar.
The required policy actions include cutting interest rates, rationalising taxes on equity capital, addressing delayed payments from the public sector, and improving logistics, the release said.
