Indirect taxes: Budget proposals aligned with govt's strategic priorities

Budget 2023-24 adopted seven priorities or Saptarishi, one of which is building focus on green growth

The indirect tax proposals are aligned with key strategic priorities of the government. Largely, the focus has been on the Make in India theme, export promotion, ease of doing business, green energy and mobility.

There are aspects relating to input tax credit (ITC), the e-commerce sector, and foreign digital service providers, which also merit special mention.

Denial of ITC on CSR spends a regressive step

A key feature of the goods and services tax (GST) is that all expenses which are in furtherance of business should be allowed as ITC. This essentially translates into the fact that GST applies only on value addition