MUMBAI: Providing a stimulus to job creation is likely to be a focus areas of Budget 2018. In the run-up to the Budget, this has been a focus of discussions between finance ministry officials and external stakeholders as well as in internal brainstorming sessions. Various countries provide tax benefits for creation of additional jobs (see table). Even India has such provisions, but owing to certain conditions that have been stipulated, many companies — especially in the service sector — have been unable to reap its benefits. It's likely that section 80JJJAA of the Income Tax (I-T) Act may be tweaked to provide a greater impetus for job creation or some other new provision introduced. Under section 80JJJAA, which came into effect from fiscal 2016-17 and replaced an earlier provision, 30% of additional employee cost is available as a deduction for three years, including the year in which the new employment is generated. Companies who have a turnover of Rs 1 crore or more are eligible to claim benefits for new employment created by them. Govt may tweak tax laws for job creation Various conditions have been set out in this section. If an individual is employed for less than 240 days in the first year, such an individual is not treated as an additional (or new) employee. For the textile sector, a lower threshold of 150 days has been set. Further, if the monthly salary of any additional employees exceeds Rs 25,000, then the salary of such employees are excluded for the purpose of computing the additional employee cost against which the benefit is available. In its pre-Budget memorandum, Ficci points out that in a scenario where an employee has worked for less than 240 days in the first year, but for the entire year in year two and year three, even if all the other conditions are met with, the company will still not be able get the corresponding benefit under this section in any of the three years.