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Roadmap in 45 days for removal of tax exemptions to cos: Das

"With regard to corporate tax reduction, the Finance Minister in the last Budget has spelt out that it will be reduced from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over the next four years and it will be accompanied by elimination of exemptions and incentives," he said at an event organised by IVCA here.

"We are now currently working on the removal, elimination of exemptions and incentives and <g data-gr-id="47">some time</g> in the next 45 days or so, we will be spelling out the <g data-gr-id="43">road map</g> for removal of exemptions and incentives," he said.

It will be put up in the public domain so that the Ministry gets the inputs from stakeholders to firm up the proposals, Das said.

"Work on that front is very much on board," he added.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in the Budget, had said the basic rate of corporate tax in India at 30 per cent is higher than the rates prevalent in other major Asian economies, making domestic industry uncompetitive, and it would be brought down to 25 per cent over four years.

Explaining the rationale for the reduction of corporate tax in a phased manner to 25 <g data-gr-id="44">per cent</g>, Das said the government would have been happy to do it immediately, but there were fiscal issues to attend to.

"The fiscal deficit is sacrosanct and cannot be compromised, so there is the whole issue of affordability in a single year. You cannot reduce the tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent," he said. 
On indirect tax reforms, Das said the GST Bill is before the select committee of Parliament and "work is in progress".

"We are also looking at the kind of rates that will be prevalent in GST. We have constituted one more committee recently to work out the feasibility of what kind of rates GST should have," he said.

All the preparatory work is in place to implement GST from April 1, 2016, the Secretary added.
About widening of <g data-gr-id="41">tax</g> base, he said, "Our whole approach is to adopt a very non-intrusive approach. The MAT issue with the US has been resolved... The framework has now been finalised." 

Das pegged India's growth at 8-9 <g data-gr-id="37">per cent</g> in the medium term.

"The <g data-gr-id="42">medium term</g> outlook is very positive and if <g data-gr-id="57">industry</g>, business and the government work together, why will we not be able to reach the growth of 8-9 per cent?" he asked.
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