Budget 2024: Boosting capital expenditure on infrastructure and urbanisation, unleashing bold power sector reforms, giving more incentives and tax parity to renewable energy firms are some of the key demands of the infrastructure and energy sector from the government in the upcoming budget.Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday met representatives from the infrastructure and energy sector as a part of her pre-budget consultations. “While the capex support for the infrastructure was common, the industry wanted bold reforms to push infrastructure projects, support for energy transition and tax incentives for solar and sector to meet India’s goal to attain net-zero by 2070,” said a person aware of the details of the meeting. The industry is also seeking a government roadmap for creating better cities.

“The industry wanted the government to keep focus on urbanisation to keep up the challenges of growing urban migration,” the person cited above said.

The industry officials also sought removal of trade barriers for export, expansion of FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) incentives to include off-road and agricultural vehicles, and standardisation of GST in energy storage. They also urged the government to initiate electricity reforms, taking states on board. The renewable energy sector sought standardisation of GST in energy storage. Currently, lithium-ion batteries are taxed at 18%, solar batteries at 12%, and those not used in EVs are taxed at 28%. “Due to the cascading effect of indirect taxes, the tariff rate of power goes up, which impacts common man as well as industry as a whole. Hence, we request that the power sector should be brought under the purview of GST immediately,” a second person said.

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