« Top Headlines » Open DEMAT Account in 24 hrs  Tax planning for 2025: How to maximise your savings before March 31 deadline  New income tax bill reaches Parliament: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tables I-T Bill 2025 in Lok Sabha  5 major changes in the last 6 months every taxpayer should know!  Good news for taxpayers: ITR forms updated to allow 87A tax rebate claims, but there's a catch  Top 10 income tax changes from 2024 to look out for while filing ITR in 2025 «  ICAI plans newer accounting standards... 1144 CAs land plum jobs in two months... » Revenue dept no to sops for drug sector July, 06th 2006 n its comments on the proposed pharma policy, the revenue department has turned down a number of proposals, including end-use-based exemptions, reduction in excise duties on drugs and increase in the SSI exemption limit for the pharma sector. It has also said no to providing exemption to testing and analysis services for drugs and data processing. In a response to the draft Cabinet note on the National Pharma policy, the revenue departments tax research unit reiterated its contention that every proposal which had revenue implications needed to be vetted carefully as there was no stated policy of the government on duty adjustments to influence prices. The department has accordingly sought modifications to the draft policy. On the issue of providing fiscal incentives on a long-term basis to research and development companies (a committee under R A Mashelkar is looking at the matter separately), the department has pointed out that a number of customs duty concessions are already available for R&D projects. Since, duty structures are part of the governments fiscal policy, the department feels that sector specific proposals should not form part of policies for the development of a particular sector. Duty structures should not be used as a general instrument of any policy. The proposals for fiscal incentives should be considered at the material time, sources said.