The annual budget proposal for 2006 – 2007 was presented to the Indian Parliament by the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram on 28th Feb. 2006. It carried no major changes in the taxation structure of the country. With the GDP rate hovering between 8 to 9 percent, the Finance Minister believes in letting the economy grow on its own steam.
The Industry has responded positively and the stock market has been booming. The Indian government remains committed to bringing down the import duties to the Asian level by 2010, at the latest.
The peak custom duty for non-agricultural products has been reduced from 15% to 12.5%. But CVD (countervailing duty) which was imposed at 4% on all imports, with a few exceptions, will offset the reduction. In order to encourage economy capacity addition, the Finance Minister has reduced excise duty on specified printing, writing, and packaging paper from 16% to 12%. The import duty on packaging machinery has been reduced from 15% to 5% benefiting the paper packaging business.
The Indian Printing Industry is keeping up with the growing economy by engaging in modernization and expansion; its activities are aimed at meeting the growing demand for quality printing as well as print exports.
