Expect some measures on the revenue side. To my mind, the most likely candidates are excise hikes. Excise duties were cut in the wake of the global recession; by most measures, India has weathered the recession well, and some sectors, like automobiles, have been more than buoyant. It would be politically palatable to reverse - fully or partially - the drop in excise duties in those sectors where Pranab can politically peddle them as being elitist.
Cars, I suspect, would be the first target. In fact, if I wanted to schemingly specific about this, I would hike excise on all cars by x amount, say 4%; but, to compensate for the 'subsidy' on diesel, which is 'needed' for freight, tractors and pumpsets, I would raise the excise on diesel cars by a larger amount, say 6, or 8%.
No comments:
Post a Comment