New Delhi: India Inc on Thursday pitched for continuation of reforms while ensuring tax and policy stability in the forthcoming Budget to prop up the economy hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the virtual pre-budget consultation held with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, industry chambers said that government measures will help firmly entrench the nascent signs of recovery being currently seen in private investment.
Capital expenditure by the government through enhanced infrastructure spending should in the meantime continue to support growth, CII president TV Narendran said.
"Infrastructure sector with a multiplier impact on rest of the economy requires interventions especially to improve and diversify sources of financing. In this context, it is suggested that government should consider developing the municipal bond market so that urban local bodies can raise funds for investing in infrastructure," he said.
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Meanwhile, Assocham suggested extending a scheme the 'Vivad Se Vishwas' for highly regulated sectors like telecom, power and mining, as also a dispute resolution scheme for issues related to customs.
"We appreciate the government for the Vivaad se Vishwas scheme which has gone a long way in reducing the long pending litigations and resulted in greater success.
Several infrastructure and service sectors such as telecom, power, mining etc, which were privatised to drive investment and growth are highly regulated/licensed," Assocham president Vineet Agarwal said.
Hence, there are many legacy court cases, often arising from interpretation of regulations/policies, Agarwal said, adding, these cases drag on for 10-15 years.
Given the condition of imposition of penal rates of interest, penalties, and interest on penalties, by the time these cases are decided, the due amounts may become 5x to 6x of the disputed principal amount, he added.
PTI
