Finance Minister of India, Arun Jaitley, is all set to unveil the union budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year on 1st February and just like every year, various industries will have high expectations from the union budget. Most of the industries are expecting some relief in the high GST rates and the auto industry is also expecting the same. As most of the automakers are moving towards the electrification of their vehicles, high GST rates on EVs is forcing them to think twice, at least in India. Automakers are also expecting some policy on scrapping commercial vehicles that do not comply with the emission norms and have an age over 15 years. Here is what various automakers have to say about the union budget 2018-19.
Mr. Jeetender Sharma, Managing Director, Okinawa Scooters said "The electric vehicles segment today is at a point of inflection and there is need to take a collective approach from all the industry stakeholders to ensure this vertical drives up to the next stage of growth. The upcoming finance budget FY 18-19, will be closely watched by the industry as it will determine the Government’s will to see this sector reach the highs that it has been speaking of translate into action. The need of the hour is to incentivize Research & Development (R&D) which is key to Innovation and Manufacturing that will push the ‘Make in India’ agenda ahead."
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“I think the vision statement should be revisited, ‘Develop and Make in India’ for the EV segment. The other aspect which we expect the Finance Minister to be generous about is the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which needs to be rationalized to ensure that EVs don’t become dearer, which currently at a high of 12% makes them beyond the reach of prospective customers. Keeping GST at 5% will be a welcome step. Also, the RTO fee waiver will further the cause of overall effective pricing for EVs," he added.
Talking about the tax reforms in this union budget 2018-19, Mr. Jatin Ahuja, Founder and Managing Director, Big Boy Toyz, said "The corporate tax structure in India is higher than both, Global and Asia Averages. Keeping the best practices in mind the Government should rationalise corporate taxes as well as individual taxes. A lower tax rate will encourage more and more people to pay their taxes and will eliminate the black money from the economy totally putting the country on the fast track of growth."
Along with the tax exemption on electric vehicles, the auto industry is also expecting reduction in cess for hybrid vehicles to zero.
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