LUDHIANA: The Union
Budget has clicked with businessmen for sparing them any Covid
cess or similar new tax they feared. Halving the time limit for reopening income-tax assessment cases to three years from six, besides the changed custom duties, makes Punjab’s engineering sector hopeful of getting cheaper iron and steel.
The textile and garments sector had a mixed response after the customs duty was increased on cotton but lowered on certain other products. Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings president Upkar Singh Ahuja said: “By waiving the import duty on scrap and cutting the import duty on certain steels by 5%, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman impressed thousands of Punjab engineering goods manufacturers. For the past few months, expensive raw material was hurting the bicycle, automobile part, fastener, sewing machine, and furnace industries. The price correction will lead to revival.”
Ludhiana Fasteners Suppliers Association president Raj Kumar Singla said: “Despite having little for us, this budget gave us a lot of relief.”