The government unexpected move to massively slash corporate taxes by over 10 percentage points will result in savings of over Rs 50,000 crore to India Inc, according to an analysis by economists at State Bank.
The benefit coming in from the Rs 1.45 lakh crore tax giveaways will also help companies to cut prices by up to 5 per cent to boost consumer demand, which has been sagging and is one of the prime reasons for the deepening slowdown.
The economy has grown the slowest pace in six years at 5 per cent for the June quarter, which has resulted in a rash of measures from the government, including the massive tax cut for corporates which varies from 10 t0 12 percentage points.
"Corporate savings will jump by Rs 50,000 crore, product price can come down by 2-5 per cent, boosting demand," they said in a note.
With a new effective rate of 25.17 per cent, tax-saving for its sample of 3,446 listed companies could be at least Rs 44,000 crore, which is a substantial boon for the corporates waiting for business revival in a stressed environment, it said.
Echoing other analysts who have flagged caution on fiscal slippage, the SBI note said the fiscal deficit will widen to 3.75 per cent as against the targeted 3.3 per cent.
Many others have pegged this at 4.1 per cent.
After calculating for the expected tax revenue shortfall, decline in nominal GDP growth, expenditure rationalisation initiatives and RBI surplus, the net impact on the fiscal deficit will be Rs 82,000 crore or 0.4 per cent of GDP, it said.
It also recommended the government minimise to the extent possible the off-balance-sheet borrowings so that fiscal policy is more credible and acceptable to the market.
The next stage of reforms we expect should now clearly happen for factor markets, land and labour, and rural sector, the report said.
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