Commenting on the Union Budget for 2004/05, presented by finance minister Mr P Chidambaram last week, chairman of the Council for Leather Exports (CLE) Mr S. S. Kumar described the industry‘s ‘disappointment’ at the absence of its main proposals from the budget, especially with regard to income tax

These included the enhancement of duty free import entitlement from one per cent to three per cent on embellishments, central excise exemption on the manufacture of footwear components, the duty free import of effluent treatment machinery and packaging materials, plus the removal of CVD on furskin imports.

Though the budget contained welcome measures such as the five per cent concessionary import duty on machinery to non-leather sector and the treatment of patent leather on a par with finished leather for duty exemption, it did not go far enough, Mr Kumar asserted.