More jobs, more take-home pay may become a reality post Budget 2017

New Delhi: The bubble of expectations from the Budget 2017 is becoming bigger by the day. From the salaried class, to corporate world, small and medium industries, manufacturers and many others have pinned their hopes on Arun Jaitley for relief from taxes and spur growth.

While, the Finance minister may not be averse to boosting different segments of the economy, one area that m,ay not miss the focus of Arun Jaitley is employment generation.

The government is expected to announce a budget that would prioritise employment generation for millions of youth and aid them enter the workforce.

More than 65 percent of population in India is below 35 years of age, with 12 million people entering the queue for employment every year. If India needs to tap the immense demographic potential of its youth, the Finance Minister can not afford to ignore employment generation in Budget 2017.

The government is expected to offer incentives for employment generation in labour intensive sectors like leather, gems and jewellery, electronic manufacturing etc., as well as set up coastal employment zones that would directly link tax incentives to job creation.

Niti Aayog, in its recommendations on measures for generating employment, had earlier proposed a five-year tax holiday on corporate tax for firms generating 10,000 jobs and 10-year tax holiday for companies employing more than 20,000 workers.

As per reports, the labour ministry has proposed that employers across labour intensive sectors be given the option of fixed-term employment, along with waiving their contribution to provident fund and increasing overtime work hours.

Even workers earning less than Rs 15,000 a month across these sectors should get an option of not contributing to provident fund, the ministry has proposed in a move that will enhance the take-home salary of the employees.