The reduction in the allocations to agriculture sector is to the tune of Rs . 11,000 crore .
The imposition of Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess has already resulted in the rise in the prices of Gas , Diesel and Petrol which seriously affects common people . But the Cess on Gold and Silver is as low as 2.5 %. While it is 17.5 % on crude palm oil , 20 % on crude soya bean and sunflower oil , 35 % on apples and 40 % on peas . Thus , the cess imposes heavy burden on common people whose lives are already in critical condition .
Main aim of Budgets in the last three years : Measures proposed and implemented to achieve the end
The main aim of the Budget since 2019-2020 is to achieve $ 5 trillion GDP by 2024-2025 . To achieve this , the government claims manufacturing companies need to become an integral part of global supply chains , process , core competence and cutting edge technology . This requires redcarpet welcome to Foreign Direct Investments . Further , all protectionist policies are to be removed as per World Trade Organisation ’ s [ WTO ] directions . It needs perfectly aggressive implementation of privatisation , liberalisation , corporatisation and commercialisation of all the sectors . The Budget 2021- 2022 which is on these lines , is strongly admired naturally by powerful corporate forces as a “ Bold Budget ” that lays the foundation for strong and long term growth . Therefore , the “ stock market gave the Budget a thumping applause ”.
Further , the government is consciously evolving a distribution system where more than 80 % of the wealth created will be appropriated by the top 1 % of the richest . The recent Oxfam report worries that amidst the starvation , joblessness , misery and deaths to
4 the majority during the haphazard lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic , Indian Billionaires increased their wealth by 35 %. This trend will further be accentuated by the aggressive implementation of neo-liberal policies of the government including the Budget . Budget proposals to strengthen “ Ease of Doing Business ” and to attract Foreign Direct Investment
The target for Nominal growth rate of Gross Domestic Product [ GDP ] in 2021-22 is fixed at 14.4 %. It is -7.7% in 2020-2021 due to the impact of Covid-19 while it is 4.2 % in 2019-20 . At the same time , the government aims to decrease Fiscal Deficit to 6.8 % of GDP in 2021-22 from 9.5 % in 2020-21 . Further , the government ’ s target is to decrease the fiscal deficit to 4.5 % of GDP by 2025-26 .
The government ’ s revenue in the present Budget is estimated to decrease by Rs . 2 lakh crore i . e ., 1 % of GDP . In addition , the interest payments are as high as Rs . 8 , 09,701 crore in 2021-22 i . e ., 23.23 % of the Budget .
In order to strengthen manufacturing so as to achieve $ 5 trillion economy by 2025 , the Central Budget 2021-22 has committed to provide Rs . 1.97 lakh crore over 5 years for Production Linked Incentive Scheme [ PLI ] to boost domestic manufacturing . The scheme is initiated on November 12 , 2020 for 10 sectors with the aim of giving companies incentives on incremental sales from products manufactured in domestic units . The Scheme welcomes companies to come and establish units in India so as to decrease imports and to capture growing demand in the domestic market in view of their high capital intensity , The sectors consist of Food Processing , Textiles , other than the already included Mobile Phones , allied equipment , Pharmaceutical ingredients , and medical devices . Thus , incentives will be given to global capital to come to our country . What are the concessions and incentives provided to Monopoly Capital ?
In this context , a series of reforms initiated to attract investments resulted in the decrease in corporate tax . The government slashed the corporate tax rate to 22 % from 30 % for existing companies and to 15 % from 25 % for new manufacturing companies including a surcharge and cess in 2019-20 Budget . This declining trend is continuing and made our country one of the lowest in corporate taxes , among the world . The Dividend Distribution Tax is abolished for the last 3 years .
Further , the Finance Minister has proposed to constitute a “ Dispute Resolution Committee ” [ DRC ] to relieve the investor from long pending direct tax disputes . The DRC will cater to tax payers having a taxable income of up to Rs . 50 lakh and a disputed income of up to Rs . 10 lakh . The committee will have the powers to reduce , waive any penalty or give immunity from any offence punishable under the Income Tax Act . Further , the exemption limit for tax audit has been increased from Rs . 5 crore to Rs . 10 crore turnover per annum especially for those who carry out 95 % of their transactions digitally . Tax incentives to International Financial Services Centre [ IFSC ]:
To facilitate the on-shoring of offshore funds into India , the Finance Minister announced new tax incentives for units under the IFSC .
The tax incentives are provided in addition to tax holidays for capital gains for aircraft leasing companies . Further , tax exemption is also given for aircraft lease rentals paid to foreign investors . Moreover , there is tax incentive for relocating foreign funds in the IFSC
Class Struggle