Assocham President Rana Kapoor said: “Despite being low on expectations in an election year, Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s Interim Budget has given a pleasant surprise at least partly to the manufacturing sector which has been bleeding. The excise duty cut on automobiles and capital goods will provide a much-needed relief to these sectors.”

Welcoming the Interim Budget, Kris Gopalakrishnan, President-CII, said: “The Finance Minister has highlighted the importance of the manufacturing sector, which is key to reviving the economy. The performance of the manufacturing sector over the last one year has been consistently poor and is in need for intervention by the Government. The reduction in excise duty on sectors such as automobiles, capital goods and consumer electronics is indeed welcome, as this will help revive demand in these sectors.”

EEPC India Chairman Anupam Shah said the cut in excise duty in certain manufacturing industries like cars and two-wheelers will help export of key engineering goods which are poised to become the top contributors to India’s export basket.

FIEO President M Rafeeque Ahmed said while rebating of the Central taxes through various schemes is in operation, the State taxes blunt the competitiveness of different exports products between 2-5 per cent of their export value depending upon the location of the manufacturing units.

Anuj Puri, Chairman, Jones Lang LaSalle, said, “With elections in sight, affordable housing will definitely continue to be an area of focus. We expect more developers to enter into the budget homes segment in order to take advantage of tax incentives, and also the greater demand-supply mismatch there.”

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