Roll back all boom-time taxes, says Assocham

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New Delhi, Nov 20 : Industry body Assocham on Thursday recommended that taxes imposed on the Indian industry at a time when the economy was doing much better should be rolled back now that times are more difficult.

Sajjan Jindal, Assocham president, said that when during the economic boom period, the finance ministry imposed variety of taxes both direct and indirect with heavy doses. Currently, when the industry is facing hardships with margins are falling. Such taxes need to be immediately withdrawn.

Assocham had convened a meeting of its working group to take stock of the situation emerging due to global economic meltdown, demanded that banks must provide more liquidity to the small and medium enterprises (SME).

“We must provide more liquidity to the SME sector... Banks must allot 20-25% specifically for the SME sector,’’ Jindal said. While praising the government for taking prompt action for pumping in liquidity into the system, Jindal said banks have surpluses and they are willing to lend now. He, however pointed out that there is a “crisis of confidence’’ which will need working on.

“The prices are dependent on demand and supply scenario. Prices are coming down anyway due to slow demand and it is likely to come down further’’, Jindal said while talking about whether industry will take its cue from finance minister P Chidambaram’s suggestion of slashing prices.