“At no point and on no score, do we want to make it difficult for industry,” stated Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman at the CII National Council Session in August. Taxation, infrastructure, RBI-government relations, delayed payments and corporate social responsibility (CSR) were amongst the key themes she addressed.

“It is our intent to reduce tax on corporates,” said Ms Sitharaman, emphasising that there was “no second thought” on this matter. The Government would consider a uniform 25 per cent tax rate for all categories of corporates after there was comfort that tax revenues were on the upward trend. Ms Sitharaman also touched upon two other elements relating to taxation: simplification and harassment. “We are looking at simplification of taxes,” said Ms Sitharaman adding that the report of the committee on Direct Taxes Code is expected to be released on August 15. The government will immediately take this up for consideration.