Budget 2025 Expectations: Industry body CII hopeful for steps to augment investment, consumption demand

Budget 2025 Expectations: With the Union Budget 2025 announcement just around the corner, all eyes are on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she prepares to present her eighth consecutive budget on Saturday, February 1. From farmers and students to the middle class, various sectors are eagerly awaiting the government's upcoming decisions.

Amid these expectations, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), a non-governmental business and industry organisation working to create an environment conducive to India’s development, has shared its priorities for the upcoming budget to augment investment and consumption demand.

CII emphasised that the new government needs to step up both public and private investments to revive demand in the economy. For boosting investment it is important to ensure that any project that has come for clearance should be fast-tracked and put on the ground. 

Some of the key suggestions shared by CII include:

- Fast-tracking project approvals: Any project that has come into the queue for approval should be fast-tracked and put on the ground in the shortest possible period. 

- Reducing the threshold for CCI clearance: CII recommends reducing the threshold limit for CCI clearance from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 500 crore.
  
- Utilising PSU reserves: The reserves of 277 Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in 2012-13, which amounted to Rs 6.8 lakh crore, should be put to judicious use.

- Increasing personal income tax exemption limits: CII suggests raising the personal income tax exemption limit to Rs 5 lakhs. Alternatively, it proposes linking the basic exemption limit to the cost of living index.
  
- MAT relief for SEZ developers and units: It is proposed that Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) relief be granted to developers and units in Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

- Reviving project finance: In the early years of development, several financial institutions provided project financing. However, these have since been phased out. CII proposes either providing more leeway to existing institutions such as IDFC, ILFS, and banks to fill this gap or creating a development finance corporation specifically focused on funding long-gestation investments.