While delivering the keynote address during Seminar on Finance and Taxation, jointly organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Ministry of Finance, as part of Make in India Week in Mumbai, Ms Surabhi Sinha, Member, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, said that Make in India initiative would serve as a multiplier for job creation and would revive India’s manufacturing sector. Ms Sinha enumerated numerous policy measures delineating positive steps undertaken by Ministry of Finance on the taxation front such as E-filing -filing of Income Tax Returns, Electronic Verification Code (EVC), E-payment of taxes, etc, which are some of the steps in the direction to ease the doing business in India.
Mr Subhankar Sinha, Member, CII National Committee on Taxation, & Senior Partner, Head of Tax South Asia & Middle East Siemens Ltd., mentioned that for addressing the issue of increase in cost of compliance, there is need to simplify rules, implement recommendations of Eshwar committee and Shome committee, introduce presumptive tax for MSME sector, and following Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) for plugging in revenue leakages.
Mr Kumar Iyer, Director General, Economic Trade and Investment, India, delving upon the promising prospects of India-UK relationship, said that there lies tremendous scope of collaboration amongst both the countries and some of the niche areas are risk management, consultancy, legal and advisory services. UK is the third largest G-20 investor in India, and going forward in order to meet the growing capital requirements, it is crucial that both the nations work jointly.
Earlier, while delivering welcome address, Dr Anish Shah, Chairman, Sub-Committee on International Trade and Development, CII Western Region & President- Group strategy and Member of Board, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, lauded that the role played by Indian government in reviving the investors’ confidence is decisive, and said that the recent policy developments are indicative that India is receptive towards investments. Additionally, he said that GST would be a game changer which would provide boost to Make in India campaign.
Presenting an overview of Indian tax framework, Mr Ketan Dalal, Partner, PwC, briefed upon the recent trends, government receptiveness to Ease of Doing Business in India, Administrative and procedural reform underway. According to him, GST should prove to be an enabler for Make in India vision, and bring in ease of doing business.