Budget 2018-19

A snapshot of the Union Budget 2018-19 expectations of Rita Singh, chairman & managing director of Mesco Steel, on key issues   Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will be presenting Union Budget 2018 in Parliament on February 1. While there are several expectations of key announcements for the economy and its various sectors, it remains to be soon whom the finance minister would oblige this time. Here is a snapshot of the Budget 2018 Expectations of Rita Singh, chairman & managing director of Mesco Steel, on key issues: 1. Reduction of import duty on Coking Coal a. Currently import duty on Coking Coal is 2.5% and many of the steel companies are dependent upon imported coking coal as the domestic quality is not suitable for the steel industry, due to higher ash content. b. The import duty to be levied should be NIL as this would in turn help the steel industry to reduce the raw material cost and would increase production c. During FY18 (April – ...

The retail industry, particularly e-commerce, wants marketing spend to be classified as operating expenditure rather than capital expenditure As Finance Minister Arun Jaitley prepares to present Union Budget 2018 , the Narendra Modi-led NDA government’s last full Budget before going for the 2019 general elections, the retail sector wants him to consider reworking the income-tax rules to classify marketing spend as operating expenditure rather than capital expenditure. With low customer loyalty as is seen in the retail sector, marketing should certainly be understood to be operating expenditure. Even physical retailers that offer end-of-season sales consider discounts as notional operating expenditure. Among other key Budget expectations from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country’s multi-brand e-commerce sector through the automatic route. At present, a lot of complicated structures are used by companies to get this ...