Budget 2012 in the Focus Product Scheme JCB hopes for inclusion of earthmoving equipment

With the national budget 2012 around the corner, auto companies are hoping for a good budget and it has been reported that JCB India, construction equipment maker is hoping for inclusion of earthmoving equipment in the Focus Product Scheme this budget.
Vipin Sondhi, MD & CEO, JCB India Ltd stated ``Increasing the GDP with a clear fiscal consolidation road map will perhaps be the prime targets of the Finance Minister when he rolls out the Union Budget 2012. We saw several interest rate hikes in the previous fiscal and can expect some relaxation on this front in the year 2012-13. Infrastructure development should continue to remain the focus area and a greater percentage of planned expenditure should be allotted towards this endeavor.’’
When asked what, according to him are the specific issues that need to be tackled? He stated ``Industry looks forward to a uniform taxation structure across the country. A uniform roll out of GST will help reduce operational difficulties, increase efficiencies and establish a trail for legitimate tax payment. Further, the Union Budget 2011 levied MRP based excise duty on packaging activity of parts, components and assemblies of Earthmoving Machinery with retrospective effect from 29th April 2010. The Earthmoving Equipment Industry saw a de-growth during the slowdown of 2008 and 2009 and the retrospective levy of excise duty on packaging activity of spare parts further put a lot of strain on the industry as the duty was not recovered from the buyers of spare parts. Further, the demand of interest for retrospective period of levy seems unjustified. The Govt. should intervene and a suitable amendment may be made to levy the excise duty on packaging activity of parts from the date of enactment of Finance Bill 2011 and the retrospective period of levy should be withdrawn.’’
At last when asked what kind of government intervention does he think is required to give a fillip to the sector, he stated ``the earthmoving and construction equipment manufactured in India are at par with international standards. Inclusion of earthmoving equipment in the Focus Product Scheme will go a long way in upgrading the quality of the products, bringing in advanced manufacturing skills in operations and boosting the image of India as the Engineering hub for the world. The Govt. may consider inclusion of these products to be eligible for incentives under the Focus Product Scheme. Further, Govt. intervention, by way of regular  reviews to clear the bottlenecks in infrastructure project execution, is needed to provide a fillip to the roads, power, coal and ports sectors.’’Automobile News