Budget 2019: FICCI has also demanded for re-introduction of medical reimbursement deduction.

Industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has demanded, in its Pre-Budget Memorandum, from the government that Income Tax exemption limit under the Section 80-D of Income Tax Act should be raised to Rs 20,000 from Rs 5,000 for preventive health check-ups.

"Every year, roughly 5.8 million Indians succumb to heart and lung diseases, stroke, cancer and diabetes. Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, heart diseases and respiratory diseases are expected to comprise more than 75 per cent of India's disease burden by 2025. Preventive health check-ups can help in early diagnosis and timely treatment of NCDs, hence lowering complications, mortality and burden on secondary and tertiary care facilities," FICCI said in its Pre-Budget Memorandum while demanding income tax exemption under Section 80-D of the Income Tax Act.

The Delhi-based industry body has also demanded that the employers get a separate annual deduction of upto Rs 10,000 per employee, towards expenses incurred for sponsoring the health check expenses of their employees.

FICCI has based this demand on the rising advent of lifestyle diseases in India and the need to prevent loss of productivity. It has also demanded re-introduction of medical reimbursement deduction.

The medical reimbursement deduction was merged along with conveyance allowance into a composite standard deduction limit of Rs 40,000 in the 2018 Budget presented by then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

FICCI has said that given the significant rise in cost inflation index in general (70 per cent over the last 5 years) and medical inflation in particular, the medical reimbursement deduction needs to be re-introduced and the annual limit needs to be enhanced to not less than Rs 100,000 per annum.