Govt will simplify tax structure in Budget 2015, says chief economic adviser

Reiterating the finance minister, the ministry’s chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian said that the government will not only focus on simplifying the tax structure in the Budget but also set out fiscal framework for the year.

In the coming Budget 2015, India Inc. wants the finance minister to cut corporate taxes and restrict the minimum alternate tax to 10 percent to boost manufacturing.

In a recent article , Ficci president Jyotsna Suri urged Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the pre-Budget consultation for creation of a conducive tax environment and suggested that revenue estimates and targets should be realistically arrived at in accordance with the state of the economy.

On the reform front, Subramanian said that the government took every ordinance very seriously and was focused on winning back investor confidence. Foreign inflows have surged in the last two quarters, he said.

The chief economic adviser said that fast-tracking the coal auction process was a priority for the government and subsidy sharing mechanism for the oil sector was also being considered.

The government has started the process to auction 23 coal blocks in the first tranche.