Discussion on Union Budget 2019-20 jointly held with Kozhikode Branch of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

CA Sarala, Chairperson of the Kozhikode Branch of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India welcomed the dignitaries as well as the audience.

Sri. A. Shyam Sunder, President chaired the meeting. He said that our Chamber has been associating with the Kozhikode Branch of the Chartered Accountants for the last so many years in a commendable way. The Finance Minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitaraman said that India is poised to reach the 5 million dollar economy status and expects to reach this pinnacle by 2024. Many start up companies have started operations recently in Calicut and Malappuram Districts. This Budget will help them to a large extent. He said that the Budget is a good one and will be useful for most of the trade and industry. The inter changeability of PAN and Aadhar card is a welcome move.

CA T Gopakumar, Joint Secretary of the Malabar Chamber of Commerce introduced Sri. K.M. Asok Kumar IRS, Joint Commissioner of Income Tax.

Sri. K.M. Asok Kumar IRS., Joint Commissioner of Income Tax said that he would rather like to sit in the audience than sitting on the dais. He said that we are like a horse tied to cart. One side of both the eyes will be covered and it  can see only one side of the peripheries of the path it travels. Soon after the presentation of Budget, all medias have all types of discussions and it plays a very big role. They broadcast pre budget expectations from important persons, then a good round of analyses and so on. Emphasis of certain words or by using certain notations or by voice change, you can change the meaning of words. A Budget has to satisfy people from all corners of life.

Inter changeable Aadhar and PAN will be very helpful to common man. IT Department need not scrutinize accounts of start ups. TDS instituted for cash withdrawals over 1 crore from banks is a step towards digital India. Harassment by officers will not be allowed. Since all returns are to be filed online only, Assessee need not come to IT office.

CA Arunkumar Subramanian, Secretary of ICAI, Kozhikode Branch introduced the speaker CA Mony A to the audience.

Sri. A. Shyam Sunder presented a memento to Sri. K.M. Asok Kumar IRS, Joint Commissioner of IT.

CA Phalgunakumar, speaker, who had agreed to reach here could not do so since flights were cancelled. Hence CA Mony A gave the analysis of the Budget 2019-20.

CA Mony said that Finance Minister has said One Nation, One Power grid, One Nation, one water supply. All are centre oriented programs.  Each and every consumer will have to pay Rs.2.5 additional charge for Petrol or Diesel. This will definitely tend to increase prices of commodities as transportation charges will increase. This will badly affect Kerala, being purely a consumer State. Interest rates in India are  high compared to other countries. All air carries are closing one after other, as rate of aviation fuel rate is very high. Huge cash withdrawals are done  by mainly NRIs and hence the 2% TDS will affect them badly.

All existing 17 labour laws will be repealed and on 4 laws and on 4 laws will remain with necessary modifications. All employers  need file only one return. This Budget has totally neglected agriculture. Since most of the population in India are farmers, economy will be affected badly and employment generation will decrease. Value addition industries of agricultural products will suffer a lot.. A group of 20 ladies will get a loan of 1 lakh. This can not transform Nari into Narayani as hailed.  Nearly 150 kgs. Of gold are sold each and every day and increase in import duty will tend to diminish this IFSC transactions can be considered as transaction in SEZs. Having a higher educational Hub in India will help students who are compelled to go abroad for higher studies.

In the open forum, Mr. M. Khalid, Mr. Eswaran Namboodiri and CA C Mohan participated actively.

Lt Col K K Manu (Retd) proposed the vote of thanks.