CII seeks excise duty cut in fuel, hike in min wages

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has suggested excise duty cuts in petrol and diesel and a hike in key minimum wages in the upcoming Union budget to boost consumption amid high inflation.

- Rituraj Baruah

NEW DELHI:

In a statement on Sunday, the industry body said it wants to see targeted interventions to boost consumption, especially at the lower income level, including an increase in the daily minimum wage under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and raise in the annual payout under the PM-KISAN scheme.

"Domestic consumption has been critical to India's growth story, but inflationary pressures have somewhat eroded the purchasing power of consumers. Government interventions could focus on enhancing disposable incomes and stimulating spending to sustain economic momentum. Persistent food inflationary pressures particularly impinge upon low-income rural households who allocate a larger share to food in their consumption basket," said Chandrajit Banerjee, director-general, CII.

He further noted that while recent quarters have shown promising signs of recovery in rural consumption, targeted government interventions, such as increasing per unit benefit under its key schemes like MGNREGS, PM-KISAN and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and providing consumption vouchers to low-income households, can speed up the process.