With the union budget scheduled on July 10, sports industry in the region have raised demands of removing excise duty from products, as the industry was already under financial crisis owing to heavy imports from China.
For the sports industry to flourish in the region, they maintained, exemption from excise duty and introduction of a uniform general sales tax (GST) was needed.
Raghunath Rana, chairman, Sports Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association, and co-partner in Ranson Sports, Jalandhar, said: “Sports industry comes under the ambit of the cottage industry. For the sports industry to flourish, the government must exempt excise duty on sports goods that would encourage the regional manufacturers to increase the production of sports goods in the country.”
“The move will certainly discourage the practice of importing finished sports goods from China at much cheaper rates and reselling in the Indian market at higher rates,” he added.
“Besides for fair and transparent functioning of the sports industry, the introduction of a uniform general sales tax (GST) on sports goods is quintessential,” said Rana, adding the sports industry has for a long been ignored in the budget, infrastructure development in complexes and training centres must find a special mention in the union budget, which would have a positive bearing on the sports goods industry.
Rana went on to say: “Given the fact that the cottage industry is self-entrepreneurial (individually run) and quite small as compare to other industries, the income tax slab must be increased from 2 lakh to 5 lakh. The move will certainly dictate the terms and encourage the production of sports goods in the region.”
{{/usCountry}}Rana went on to say: “Given the fact that the cottage industry is self-entrepreneurial (individually run) and quite small as compare to other industries, the income tax slab must be increased from 2 lakh to 5 lakh. The move will certainly dictate the terms and encourage the production of sports goods in the region.”
{{/usCountry}}Tejbeer Singh Sodhi, senior marketing manager, Legend International, Jalandhar, said: “If the complete elimination of excise duty on sports goods is not possible, the government must at least make a provision to provide heavy relaxation on it. Secondly, streamlining and simplification of tax rules in the country will further smoothen the process of import and export of sports goods.”