Indirect tax structure set to be overhauled
New Delhi: The union government is planning to bring in significant changes through the next budget in the customs and excise duty structures to provide the domestic industry a level-playing field and bring it closer to the value added tax (VAT) regime.

The government is also believed to be considering raising the peak rate of customs duty to 50-60 per cent from the present 35 per cent, to offset the absence of matching infrastructure facilities, to help the domestic industry face up to competition from other countries.

A proposal to bring down the number of customs duty slabs from four to three is also under consideration. The proposal envisages the lowest rate for capital goods and the highest for consumer goods. The middle rate, which will be slightly higher than the capital goods rate, will apply to industrial raw materials. Interestingly, the peak rate of customs duty was reduced from 40 per cent to 35 per cent in the current financial year.

The existing rates in the four duty slabs are : 35 per cent, 25 per cent, 15 per cent and 5 per cent. Added to these are a 10 per cent surcharge and Special Additional Duty. Several industry chambers have demanded removal of the surcharge.
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Copyrights Act to be amended
New Delhi: In order to combat the growing menace of counterfeiting, the government is considering amending the Copyrights and Trademarks Act, Mr N. K. Singh, secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has stated.

Speaking at an interactive session on "Road Blocks to Implementing Reforms: Towards Solutions", organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci), Mr Singh said that government was looking at the option of making trading in counterfeit products a non-bailable offence and increasing the financial penalty for the offence. At present, copyright violations are covered under criminal procedure code and it is the police’s responsibility to look into cases of counterfeiting. With the proposed amendments, the Central Board of Excise & Customs will also look into copyright violation issue, Mr Singh said.

Ficci had only recently represented to the PMO that trading in counterfeit goods almost accounted for 35 per cent of the total trade in certain categories, especially fast moving consumer goods and had sought urgent remedial measures.
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