The virtual pre-Budget meeting was called for an aggressive focus on privatisation of public sector units and increasing allocation to capital expenditure
The focus of upcoming budget should be on measures to boost job creation and widen the tax base by rationalising GST and personal income tax slabs. This will enhance the consumption, said the industry bodies during their pre-Budget meeting with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 21 November.
The president of CII (Confederation of Indian Industry), Sanjiv Bajaj said that the external scenario may continue to remain unfavourable for some time. Therefore, we need to broaden the base of our domestic economy. This can be achieved by creating new sectors of growth and driving employment generation to enhance domestic demand, inclusion and growth.
The virtual pre-Budget meeting was called for an aggressive focus on privatisation of public sector units and increasing allocation to capital expenditure. This is to be done with an aim on an investment-led growth strategy to lift India’s economy amidst the global uncertainty.
The CII forming part of the virtual meet suggested that an employment linked incentive scheme maybe introduced and consideration of an urban employment guarantee scheme and initiate a pilot in metro cities first in this budget, is what the government could do to boost job creation.
Another important industry body PHDCCI (The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry) too submitted its suggestions for the Budget to the finance minister virtually on 21 November.
A five-pronged strategy in order to revitalise the private investments through measures to boost consumption, increase capacity utilisation in factories, increase job creation, improve social infrastructure quality and accelerate economic growth of India, formed part of the suggestion.
The president of PHDCCI, Saket Dalmia in a statement said that the union budget 2023-24 is being presented amidst at a crucial juncture where exists geo-political uncertainties, high inflation and slowing world economic growth. At this point, in order to boost domestic sources of growth, calibrated steps would be important to maintain the steady economic growth trajectory.