Govt must boost Make in India project: Deloitte

By Mahesh Jaising

Part 1 – Budget

Customs – changes expected

Make in India

“Make in India” movement launched in 2014 has been extremely successful and has greatly enthused investments into India.

Mobile phone manufacturing has perhaps witnessed the most dramatic success story. News reports suggest that almost 95% of mobile phones sold today in the country are produced domestically.

With the demand for electronic hardware expected to only rise in the near future, the Government is expected to continue its focus on this sector.

Fixing of inverted duty structures is key to this goal.

Budget 2020 likely to focus on this and may even introduce similar measures for other sectors.

Export scheme changes

The Government in its last budget introduced the Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) Scheme set to replace the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme.

While this was to end this month, it is expected that the scheme would be continued for a while.

WTO has recently passed an order against India’s export schemes – budget is expected to have announcements around SEZ and other export schemes. Clarity is expected in the Budget.

Trade facilitation measures

Trade facilitation measures are also likely to be addressed in the Budget.

Part 2 – Policy changes

GST – advantages, how has it streamlined taxes

GST 2.0

E-invoicing and new returns under GST focus on technology, automation and ease of doing business.

Industry keen to seen a smooth transition and successful roll-out of both.

E-invoicing the first time operations side of businesses directly interact with compliance requirements under GST.

Several other countries have also implemented similar e-invoicing requirements. Learnings from such experiences internal to a successful roll-out.

(The author is Partner, Deloitte India)