Mitra will take over from P V Bhide after January 31.
In the fray are revenue secretary P V Bhide, transport secretary Brahm Dutt and IDBI Bank chairman Yogesh Agarwal. In addition, Devashish Gupta, a Jharkhand cadre IAS officer and West Bengal cadre officer Anil Verma were also in the contention, sources familiar with the selection process said.
Industry lobbies have begun pre-budget consultations with the Union finance ministry for 2010-11.
The United Progressive Alliance government had slashed excise duty by four percentage points across the board and service tax by two percentage points in stimulus packages of December and January to limit the impact of global downturn on the Indian economy. Excise duty in the 8-10 per cent slab is levied on most industrial goods. The corporate tax rate is 30 per cent.
The name of Mitra, a 1975 batch IAS officer from West Bengal cadre, was cleared by the appointments committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The Finance Ministry has told industry it should not expect any major fiscal sops in the Budget to be presented by the new UPA government, which has a limited headroom for giveaways due to the economic slowdown.
The CII on Monday recommended raising personal income tax exemption limit by Rs 50,000, removal of Fringe Benefit Tax and surcharge on corporate tax along with measures to promote investment in the full budget to be presented by the new government in July.
Ahead of the new government assuming office later this month, the finance ministry has begun the Budget-making exercise to enable the incoming finance minister to present the full-fledged Budget for 2009-10.
In a pre-budget meeting with revenue secretary P V Bhide, a Ficci delegation asked the finance ministry to tread with caution on rolling back the stimulus measures taken to spur growth.
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