Mumbai: As the Union government is gearing up for its last full-scale budget of its tenure; the stakeholders of various industries are voicing their expectations from the Union Budget 2018.
In his Pre-budget quote,Veteran Ad man Ashish Bhasin, the Chairman & CEO South Asia – Dentsu Aegis Network has reflected the sentiments of the industry by demanding the simplification of Indirect Taxation process in Indian Advertising Industry. While terming GST as a progressive step for the government, he voiced for ease of doing business and said, “I hope that there are some simplifications around the services part of GST that are announced. While GST has been a progressive step for the country, my feeling is that the services sectors were relatively less focused upon and hence the step that was supposed to simplify indirect taxation has actually ended up complicating it significantly, particularly for advertising agencies that operate out of different cities and states and service clients who may be based all over the country.
“Under the thrust of the government for Ease of doing Business, I hope this issue gets addressed.The advertising industry doesn’t mind paying the taxes but needs simplification of processes which are taking away too much of unproductive manpower and blocking working capital” added Bhasin.
Expressing his optimism over the upcoming budget and subsequent economic growth due to the booming rural market and infrastructure developments – Ashish Bhasin said, “I anticipate that the Union Budget of 2018 will drive growth and whenever the economy grows, the Advertising Industry benefits. I see a particular thrust from the government in the areas of infrastructure development as well as for rural development. We have had a reasonably good monsoon, rural economy is starting to look up and another push in the same direction will significantly benefit all consumption led sectors including FMCG, which are heavily advertised”.
He reiterated the need for controlling the inflation and ensuring positive sentiments among the general public and said, “I think the government will make efforts to ensure that there is more money in the pockets of the common man, hopefully by giving some relief on the income tax front and will use technology for better tax compliance, thereby keeping the fiscal deficit under control. The fiscal deficit is very important from the point of view of controlling inflation.”
Mr Bhasin forecasted a positive Economic trend for next decade and said, “Over all I feel that India is poised to see good economic growth over the next 10 years and a little bit of help from the government policies, through the Union Budget of 2018 will further help the economy outperform the rest of the world.”
