Budget 2012: Excise duty should be kept unchanged at 10%, says CII

Industry body such as CII has said  that any hike in excise duty from
the current 10 per cent would further impact growth and also put burden on
consumers.

In its pre-Budget memorandum to the Finance Ministry, the industry chamber has
recommended continuation of 10 per cent standard rate of excise duty in the
next financial year.

“CII is of the view that any increase in excise duty in the Union
Budget 2012-13 would adversely affect the growth prospects of the industry
and result in higher cost to the consumer, in turn leading to inflation,”
it said.

Industrial growth as measured on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP)
during April-December was meager 3.9 per cent compared to 9.0 per cent in the
corresponding period of 2010-11.

In addition to the excise duty, state governments levy VAT of 12.5 per cent to
14.5 per cent on factory output.

CII pointed out that the effective tax comes out to be 24 per cent to 26 per
cent which is quite high as compared to most of the countries.