Big relief for MSME taxpayers in Union Budget 2016-17

Top Stories

»	49% Indian startups now from tier 2, 3 cities: Jitendra Singh
»	'India ranks 3rd in global startup ecosystem & number of unicorns'
»	Tripura exported over 9K tonnes of pineapples in 2 years
»	CPI inflation eases to 6.71% in July, IIP falls to 12.3%
»	Rupee depreciates 12 paise to close at 79.64 against US dollar

Saurabh Gupta | 29 Feb, 2016
In a major push for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has announced a big relief for MSME taxpayers in the Union Budget 2016-17 by increasing the turnover limit under Presumptive taxation scheme to Rs. 2 cr.

He said , "Anyone with turnover with over Rs 2 crore there will be presumptive income, increased from Rs 1 crore, which will be big relief for MSME category."

FM also announces tax holiday for startups for 3 out of 5 years. He said, "I propose to assist their propagation through 100 percent deduction of profits for three out of the five years for startups set up during April 2016 to March 2019." "MAT will apply in such cases," he added.

Jaitley announces incentives for new manufacturing companies and relatively small enterprise companies.

FM has increased allocation of Rs.1,80,000 crore under PM MUDRA Yojana. He said, "Our government firmly believes that development has to generate inclusive growth. While large corporate and business entities have a role to play, this has to be complemented by informal sector enterprises which generate maximum employment."

"There are some 5.77 crore small business units, mostly individual proprietorship, which run small manufacturing, trading or service businesses. 62 percent of these are owned by SC/ST/OBC. These bottom-of-the-pyramid, hard-working entrepreneurs find it difficult, if not impossible, to access formal systems of credit."

"I, therefore, propose to create a Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank, with a corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore, and credit guarantee corpus of Rs. 3,000 crore. MUDRA Bank will refinance Micro-Finance Institutions through a Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. In lending, priority will be given to SC/ST enterprises," he added.

A significant part of the working capital requirement of a MSME arises due to long receivables realization cycles. "We are in the process of establishing an electronic Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) financing of trade receivables of MSMEs, from corporate and other buyers, through multiple financiers. This should improve the liquidity in the MSME sector significantly," he added in his speech.

To give a boost to domestic leather footwear industry, the excise duty on footwear with leather uppers and having retail price of more than Rs. 1000 per pair is being reduced to 6 percent.

He said startups generate employment, bringing innovation and are expected to be key partners in Make in India programming.

Jaitley added that capital gains will not be taxed if invested in regulated, notified fund/s and by individuals in notified startups for which they hold majority shares.

While giving relief to small retailers, FM abbounced that the small shops can choose to remain open on all 7 days of a week.

"This budget is a Budget for the MSME sector with various policy measures and tax incentives focusing on their needs. Policy measures on encouraging entrepreneurship, enhanced spending on rural development and infrastructure including on roads and railway, focus on developing one crore skilled workforce could be a big boost to the sector," said Alok Saraf, Partner - Private & Entrepreneurial Group, PwC India.

"On the tax side, tax holiday to start-ups, lower tax rate of 25 percent on new manufacturing facilities and increasing turnover threshold to Rs 2 crore for presumptive tax rate of 8 percent are all welcome moves for the sector. A thumps up from the sector," added Saraf.