The Finance Minister in Budget 2011-12 announced a big negative for healthcare industry. He declared that any hospital with 25 beds or more is now going to be brought under the service tax net.
Malvinder Singh, Chairman, Fortis Healthcare, in an interview on CNBC-TV18 gave his views on how he read the budget presented by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee for financial year 2011-12. Below is a verbatim transcript. For the complete interview watch the accompanying video. Q: As far as you are concerned, is that a negative? A: Yes. There was speculation that this, at some point may come in which it has. Q: So you were prepared for it in that sense? A: Yes. However, at the end of the day as the service tax broadens across different sectors and different services these things will happen. We need to take it in our stride and the net-net amount or the delta of the cost increase could probably get passed onto the customer.Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
