‘Centre’s contribution to employee pension scheme to help MSMEs’

The Union Budget for 2016-17 has evoked mixed responses from the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector in Dakshina Kannada district.

B.A. Nazeer, President of the Canara Plastic Manufacturers’ and Traders’ Association (CPMTA), told BusinessLine that the initiative to pay the Employee Pension Scheme contribution of 8.33 per cent for all new employees enrolling in EPFO for the first three years of their employment will help incentivise job creation in the MSME sector. Many MSMEs who are already facing many problems, think twice before recruiting people. This initiative should help create jobs in the MSME sector, he said.

The announcement of a reduction in income tax rates for the small-income category and increase in the turnover limit under Presumptive Taxation Scheme to ₹2 crore will be a big relief to a large number of assesses in the MSME category, he said.

However, he felt that the demands of the MSME sector for reduction of excise duties have been ignored.

He said the burden on the MSME sector could have been eased significantly by measures such as an increase in the exemption limit of excise duty and increase in the threshold limit of levy of service tax.

Nazeer said the levy of clean energy cess on coal may lead to the increase in power tariff, making it difficult for MSMEs.

Rammohan Pai Maroor, President of the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said the initiatives related to start-ups and infrastructure were welcome.

These initiatives are a major plus for both the government and the trade and industry sectors, he said.

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