Union budget 2012 will be unveiled in another three days from now and as is the case with every budget season there are a lot of expectations, aspirations as well as doubts. However, most people have several questions in mind like 'how is it going to affect me and my lifestyle?' Here we analyze the budget impact on the common man in our daily life.

Impact on individuals

The most direct way by which the union budget affects the common man is through   changes in taxations- both direct and indirect. Direct taxation impact involves changes in income tax exemption and deduction. For instance, in this year's budget the finance minister may raise the income tax exemption limit to Rs. 3 lakh from the existing Rs.1.8 lakh. This could have a long term impact on the spending and saving patterns of individuals.

Another proposal that is expected is an increased tax deduction on housing loans. This is eagerly expected by both the builder community as well as people looking to purchase their homes

Tax saving fixed deposits (FDs) that is being offered by various banks and which currently fetched an annual return of over 9% has being the choice for investors who are looking for benefits of tax savings, capital protection and high rate of return in the prevailing high interest rate scenario. Risk-averse investors have been always looking into this product compared to other tax savings investment options such as Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS) offered by mutual funds and Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP) offered by insurance as there are risks associated in returns of these products.

Various investments and expenditures, with an overall ceiling of Rs 1 lakh, are eligible for deduction under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act.  One such investment is fixed deposits with scheduled commercial banks with maturity period of five years or more.  Accordingly, banks are offering such deposits under two plans i) traditional plan — where interest is payable monthly or quarterly as per

Current Status

While the size of the global chemical industry is in the region of USD 3 Trillion, the Indian chemical industry has an output of around USD 80 Billion and ranks 12th in the world. The chemical industry which includes basic chemicals and its products, petrochemicals fertilizers, paints and varnishes gases soaps, perfumes and toiletries and pharmaceuticals is one of the most diversified of all industrial sectors covering thousands of commercial products It forms the backbone of the industrial and agriculture development of India and provide building blocks for downstream industries. It contributes about 3% in the GDP of the country. The chemicals and petrochemicals sector in India presently constitutes 14% of the domestic industrial activity.

Industry Expectation

• Expects elimination of customs Duty on alcohol for production of chemicals. Duty on alcohol was brought down from 10% to 6% to support Government's fuel blending initiative. Since alcohol is derived

The Soybean Processors Association of India, popularly known as SOPA, is the only national level body representing the soybean processors, farmers, exporters and brokers in India working towards the aim to strengthen soybeans as a viable crop. The main objective of SOPA is to encourage the development and promotion of soy-based products in the interest of the farmeras well as the processors.

In its pre budget 2012-13 memorandum SOPA has proposed to bring the Custom Duty on crude Soya Oil to be brought NIL from 15% at present. Meanwhile, the association has requested to increase the Custom Duty of Refined Soya Oil to 22.5% against 7.5% at present or at-least raise each by 10% to offset local taxes paid by domestic producers vis-a-vis importers to have a level playing field. The association feels that this will increase better capacity utilization by solvent extraction units & refineries in the county.

Further, SOPA has proposed to levy 15% customs duty on import of Crude Soya Oil, 22.5%

As an apex industry body, ASSOCHAM represents the interests of industry and trade, interfaces with Government on policy issues and interacts with counterpart international organizations to promote bilateral economic issues. ASSOCHAM is represented on all national and local bodies and is, thus, able to pro-actively convey industry viewpoints, as also communicate and debate issues relating to public-private partnerships for economic development. ASSOCHAM members represent sectors like Trade (National and International), Industry (Domestic and International), Professionals (e.g. CAs, lawyers, consultants), Trade and Industry Associations and other Chambers of Commerce.

ASSOCHAM in its pre budget memorandum for Union Budget 2012-13 has recommended the following:

• Excise duty and Service tax rates should be retained at the current level of 10.3%

• They have recommended to give priority to tax reform particularly in introduction of GST which will accelerate economic growth and will also bring

ALLOY STEEL — A VALUE ADDED PRODUCT

Ours is an industry association representing alloy and stainless steel (long products) sector of the steel industry. Though alloy steel (including stainless steel) constitutes only approx. 10% of the overall  annual steel production in terms of quantity, its share is approx. 20% in terms of value since the products are substantially value added for specific end uses.  Alloy steel in fact is not "commodity" or "merchant" steel like carbon steel plates and sheets or carbon steel building and construction steel material popularly known as Mild Steel. Alloy steels are specifically produced for use in sophisticated  engineering products for various critical applications such as machined components, engine parts, steering components and bearings and the like for the automobile industry.

The customs duty on import of alloy steel in India, till sometime back, used to be 50% higher than that on merchant steel products. In a sense, alloy steel was more at par

Federation of All India Textile Manufacturers' Association (FAITMA) on behalf of Textile industry has requested Government to consider the following given recommended for considering in the upcoming Union Budget 2012/13.

• Customs duty on all man-made fibres including filament yarns should be totally abolished.
• Excise duty at 4% should be imposed on man-made fibres, POY and filament yarns.
• There should be 4% optional duty on Texturized yarn, dyed yarn, doubled yarn and fabrics, whether grey or processed and garments and made-ups.
• Bring in complete parity in excise duty on cotton stream of production vis-à-vis man-made fibre textiles.
• Provide exemption from customs and excise duties for all liquid fuels used by textile and clothing units for captive power generation.
• Resolve anomaly on "shawls of synthetic fibres" covered in different headings which also attract differential import rates.
• Extend concessional import duty to parts imported for

Higher cost of input particularly Soda ash, which constitutes about 30% of cost of production of glass products, is one of the major factors contributing to the higher cost of glass and glassware.

The Glass industry consists of four main segments-Container glasses, Specialty glass, Flat glass and Fibreglass. Container glass, which is the largest segment in the glass sector, comprises of glass packaging for consumer goods and pharmaceuticals. Next largest segment is the specialty glass, which is mainly used, in technical applications such as electronics and engineering. Flat glass segment comprises of float glass and rolled glass, which are mostly used in architectural and automotive applications.

The Indian Glass industry has been growing across all segments. This growth has been driven primarily by India's growing automotive and construction sectors in which glass is used. The container glass industry benefits from growing awareness on account of rising hygienic packaging demand,