— Ajit Gulabchand, President, Construction Federation of India
The construction industry is subjected to a complex mix of taxes resulting in procedural problems as well as substantial cost escalations. Introduction of common Goods & Service Tax will help construction industry to rationalise its tax structure and simplify the procedures for tax compliance.

Considering the special nature of the construction sector, it will be important to have the following perspective while working out the details of GST:

•  The construction industry looks forward to being treated as a normal part of the chain of supply of goods and services as envisaged by the proposed GST model.

•  The construction industry is in favour of a consumption based GST which does not distinguish between the raw material and capital goods in extending the input tax credit.

•  Government projects and other exempted projects should be brought under GST. This will remove cascading effect on infrastructure projects.

Limit of IIFCL lending At present, IIFCL is allowed to lend up to 20 per cent of the project cost. Also, there are additional constraints/limits for lending to projects other than PPP projects awarded under competitive framework.

The limit of loan up to 20 per cent of project cost may be increased to a higher level. The additional constraints/sub-limits applying to projects other than public-private partnership awarded under competitive framework may be done away with.

Duty exemption for construction equipment
As infrastructure development is a priority of the Central government, the construction sector, which builds infrastructure, needs to be supported by legitimate concessions to bring down the costs, which ultimately is going to benefit the consumer at large.

The construction equipment for projects should therefore be considered for custom duty exemption.