Budget 2017: Materials manufacturers expect Budget to protect from cheap Chinese imports

In exactly 7 days from today, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will be presenting his fourth Union Budget. This budget is different from all the previous ones presented as it comes at a time when the NDA government has spent more than half of its allocated term in the office.

This is a no brainer that this has to be a 'make or break' budget when it comes to government's reforms agenda and fulfil all its promises made to the people before coming to the office and thereafter.

As with every sector and business, infrastructure materials sector too has certain demands from the government which it expects should be fulfilled in this upcoming budget.

Infrastructure materials sector basically comprises of host of materials like ceramic, concrete, chemicals, iron and steels, etc. These materials are usually provided by small enterprises in our country and is primarily in the unorganised sector, i.e. micro and small enterprises usually manufacture these products.

The sector is currently reeling under pressure from various factors such as demand slowdown due to demonetisation which has caused near disruption in the operations of the companies operating in this space. Also, cheaper imports from China has dented domestic firms, with several of them even shutting down in recent times.

According to Kamlesh Patel, Chairman, MD, Asian Granito, "We expect finance minister to announce remedial measures which can foster growth in the infrastructure and real estate sector. GST should be implemented as early as possible. Also, affordable housing and infrastructure sectors should be levied at a lower slab in GST at 12 per cent to achieve government target of construction of 60 million homes under the government's initiative of 'Housing for All’"
 
Therefore, the government should play a pivotal role with respect to building materials sectors. The government needs to incentivise these companies, promote local manufacturing by lowering taxes and, at the same time, also levy additional tax on cheap Chinese imports which are taking a toll on all the players.