Budget 2021: Kinetic Group’s Arun Firodia Lauds Faceless Assessment, Defence Budget
Pune, February 1, 2021: Arun Firodia, Chairman, Kinetic Group, said that there are some welcome features announced by the government like faceless assessment.
“I would like this to be extended to all permissions/returns required to start a new business and run the business. Digitalization of interaction with Government authorities will reduce corruption and improve the ease of doing business.
Another welcome announcement is the correction of inverted duty structure. Government has announced its intention to support the electric vehicle industry.
Our request would be:
a) Motor and controller are being imported at nil import duty. Domestically manufactured motor and controller should also be charged the same at nil duty.
b) Similarly, lithium battery cells are charged 5% import duty. The same rate should be allowed for domestically manufactured batteries.
c) Instead of scrappage policy, which would be unwelcome, it may be a better idea to levy a green tax on vehicles that are more than 15 years old.
d) With the high cost of the battery, the electric vehicles are still more expensive than petrol-driven vehicles. My suggestion would be to increase the subsidy from Rs. 10000 per kWh to Rs. 15000 per kWh and continue it for the next 5 years.
e) In order to induce people to use electric vehicles, a sizeable number of amenity spaces should be reserved for charging stations.
On the whole, the budget is a good compromise given that we need to fund our defence budget given the threat from China”, Firodia stated.
