Articles by Arthagnani


between the different types of inputs since all of them are not to be claimed for relief purposes, would certainly involve a much greater degree of checking of books and much greater requirements regarding maintenance of accounts than is implicit in the present system of excise duties. Third, once the concept of stock adjustments is introduced, innumerable problems 'will be created regarding the basis of valuation and composition of stocks to discover what proportion of it consists of tax- free goods and so on. Since Bhoothalin- gam would like to confine the exemptions only to current inputs, it is obvious that care must also be taken that items of capital nature are not set off against tax liabilities. In effect the proposal as it stands will lead to almost as much complexity in the assessment and collection of excise duties as in the case of present taxes on profit The one major advantage of excise duty, namely, collection of the duties more or less uniformly throughout the year without accumulation of undue arrears would also be lost.

A More Useful Tariff Commission ONE of the consequences of the foreign exchange crisis of 1956-57 and the subsequent imposition of quantitative restrictions on imports was the irreverence it encouraged in industry towards the Tariff Commission as a protecting agency. In later years, particularly under the Lal Bahadur Shastri regime, the Commission earned further disrespect when its recommendations vegarding continuance of protection to some industries were rejected. This was the genesis of the apoint- rr.ent of the Tariff Commission Review Committee to determine the future functions of the Commission. The Committee's report has been just published.

the view one takes of the process and the concept of shifting. If shifting of direct taxes is achieved by and large by increase in prices of the products by each industry then obviously much of the discussion about THE POLICY for automobile manufacture was laid down in 1953 after an inquiry by the Tariff Commission. Since then there have been two ad hoc inquiries in the industry, one in 1956 on fair prices and the second in 1960 on the manufacture of a small car. Recently, the Government has announced the appointment of a committee to inquire into the quality (or, rather, the deterioration in quality) of cars. Further, it has again started to examine the possibility of making a small car.


It is also established that capital earnings other than profits (i.e, interest and depreciation) have also not been adversely affected; their share in net and gross value added, IN A PLANNED ECONOMY the role of the budget, though not unimportant, is not of the same significance as in an unplanned economy. The broad strategy of growth is determined by the Plan. The budget is concerned with the tactics

that, for licensing, the exemption limit for new undertakings should be raised from Rs 25 lakhs as at present to Rs 1 crore. For substantial expansion the limit should be 25 per cent of existing licensed capacity or an investment of Rs 25 lakhs, whichever is higher, and for new articles an investment of Rs 25 lakhs.