Mr. Kamlesh Patel, CMD, Asian Granito India Ltd on Union Budget 2019 with specific to Tiles and Marble Industry.

“We welcome the budget proposals announced for the growth of Tiles and Marble business.

New Delhi, July 09, 2019: Finance Minister proposal to increase Basic customs duty on tile and ceramic products to 15% from existing 10% will safeguard the domestic ceramic tile industry from the cheap imports and will strengthen the domestic industry.

To address the problem of duty inversion, custom duty on Marble slabs is doubled to 40% from 20% currently. Tax reforms and tax simplification measures especially moving to electronic invoice system from January 2020 will significantly reduce the compliance issues.

The budget proposals along with government move last year reducing GST on Tiles, Marble and Granite to 18% slab will give a much needed boost and provide the tiles and marble industry a level playing field.

Enhanced interest deduction upto Rs. 3.5 lakh for purchase of affordable house will  translate into a benefit of around 7 lakh to the middle class home-buyers and help in achieving ‘Housing for All’. Indian Ceramic industry would aim for a green and environment complaint industry and will continue to play an important role in the economic growth in the future and aim for global leadership in the industry and success of ‘Make in India’.

Sanitation coverage in rural India has gone up from 42% in Oct 2014 to over 70% and we hope that we should soon achieve maximum coverage. Tiles industry in India is estimated at around Rs. 35,000 crore to Rs. 40,000 crore and growing at healthy single-digit employing over 6 lakh people in direct and indirect employment.”

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)