CHANDIGARH, June 17: The Punjab Finance Minister Kanwaljit Singh today hinted that disinvestment of the state public sector undertakings(PSUs) was under consideration of the state goverment.In his pre-budget interaction with representatives of industry, Singh also indicated allocation of a higher outlay for infrastructure projects, rationalisation of sales tax and simplification of procedures in the forthcoming Punjab budget to be presented in the state Assembly next week.Conceding that VAT was the answer to the complicated sales tax structure, the FM, however, regretted that it had proved a non-starter since the northern states had not been able to adopt a uniform sales tax structure.On behalf of the industry, Sunil Kant Munjal of the Confederation of Indian Industry(CII), pleaded for abolition of octroi, introduction of VAT, stress on infrastructure building and rationalisation of S-T structure.The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in its presentation, called for making public sector undertakings viable through professional management and appropriate pricing policy, closure of unviable PSUs, thrust on evolving a system to ensure optimum revenue receipts through better compliance, expenditure reforms with the government withdrawing from non-core sectors, expanding the list of items for levy of tax at first stage, bold measures to reform the power sector, a fresh look at socio-economic schemes and steps to promote sports industry.
