The Government has brought in the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 to make certain amendments in the Income-tax Act 1961 and the Finance (No. 2) Act 2019. This was announced by the Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt Nirmala Sitaraman during the Press Conference in Goa today.
Here are comments from business representatives:
Anand Kripalu, Managing Director and CEO at Diageo India says, “We welcome the bold changes introduced by the Government, which will strengthen India Inc’s role as the nation’s job and wealth creators. The increased tax savings will boost cash flows, spur domestic and foreign investment, provide competitive tax rates and act as an economic driver towards ‘Make in India’.”
Corporate affairs and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on said the government has decided to expand the scope of corporate spend under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) norms.
Kaustabh Basu, Executive Director, Social Sector, PwC India says, “Expanding the scope of 2 per cent CSR spending on incubation and technology institution is a welcome move. This will address past concerns faced by corporates to channel CSR funds to technology incubators within institutions. Today’s move to extend permissibility of the same to State Government supported incubators or even those supported by PSUs, autonomous bodies; and to the entire S-T-E-M branches would motivate corporates to invest in this hitherto untapped area.”
Mohammad Azhar, Program Leader, INVENT at Villgro says, “Encouraging businesses to reroute their CSR 2% spending into government-sponsored incubators is a welcoming step to go from ‘good to great’. As an incubator, we have also noticed a significant growth in the creation of rural jobs by social enterprises, especially those which are well incubated and funded. This move will certainly help social tech-based enterprises to get more equity-free funding and deep handholding from incubators for their sustainability. Essentially because affordable product & services in sectors such as healthcare, agritech and edtech are vital to address the major problems in the rural belt of India and will act as a catalyst for their holistic growth and economic empowerment.”
Akila Agrawal, Partner & Head – M&A, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas says, “Now, CSR spending can be undertaken by contributing to public funded autonomous bodies engaged in research towards promoting sustainable development goals. This is a welcome change given that, as it will spur research and development; and also possibly reduce the burden of the government.”
