Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to unveil Budget 2022 on February 1, and as always, income tax remains one of the most anticipated announcements to watch out for.
Mr Varun More, Managing Director, Sanvie Retail Pvt. Ltd. said, “The pandemic has been extremely straining and challenging for the retail sector. The lockdown and restrictions assessed for brief periods, calling limitations on merchandising hours, movement of people, entry basis vaccination, etc., have all resulted in retailers and establishment owners incurring heavy losses. The new variant and the swell of cases have again put a break in all the business. We are hoping that the government takes the situation under consideration and allocates resources to plan for the revival of the retail sector in the forthcoming Union Budget.”
Ms Eshita Surana Poddar & Ms Priyanka Surana Bardia, Directors, Aakash Aath said “With Omicron looming, the budget expectations continue to circle around economic recovery, ease of compliance, and some respite to the common man. The expenditure of people on electricity, internet charges, rent, furniture etc. has increased due to Work from Home, hence the Government should provide a WFH Allowance in the upcoming Budget 2022 to provide tax relief on these expenses. The budget should also look at aggravating the domestic demand by incentivising individual and commercial consumption of Electric Vehicles pan India. Further, the budget should provide clarity on the status of crypto currency and its taxation regulations.”
Mr B L Mittal, Founder & Executive Chairman of SastaSundar.com said, “We expect the budget to remain focused on Reforms and Infrastructure Development and bring about an increase in per capita income. We expect that there would be an increase in the allocation for Healthcare particularly, for strengthening of the public healthcare infrastructure.”
Mr Nandan Mall, Chairman & Managing Director, Hulladek Recycling said, “Money spent on CSR activities should be included as a business expenditure so that businesses can get tax benefit. Incentives similar to those given to start-ups, should be given to recyclers of waste and Waste management services should be exempted from GST.”
Mr Shiladitya Chaudhury, Director, Platter Hospitality said,”We expect 2022 to be growth oriented for the F&B Sector. If the 3rd wave of Corona are well under control then we would witness new entrants in the market as well as established players expanding their wings. Apart from the new outlets, cloud kitchen and home delivery would continue to play an important role in bolstering the growth of this segment. We also have plans to open more outlets of Oudh 1590 & Chapter 2 in Kolkata in the coming year and also foray outside Bengal. Let us hope for the best.”
Mr Debraj Dey, Partner, What’s Up! Cafe
Restaurant industry continues to be outside purview of GST input credit which defeats the purpose of GST. Expectation would be to allow restaurant sector to avail of GST input credit.
Pandemic has hit the industry bad and entrepreneurs in this segment are unable to retain their employees through this crisis. I would expect some form of financial package either by way of a grant or by way of income tax waiver to support entrepreneurs who have retained their employees through this crisis.
