Presented below are pre-budget expectations of Abhijeet Desai, MD, Evolve, a Yash Birla Group Division:

As every year we are expecting a lot for the healthcare industry from this budget. I don`t think it is a wise decision to levy service tax selectively on cosmetic surgeries. Cosmetic surgeries like any other branch of medicine are proper scientific and very skilful surgeries. So they should not be treated as very ordinary vanity procedures.

The government needs to understand and differentiate between cosmetic medicine and services carried out at beauty parlours and salons. Services which are not medical can come under service tax but not medical.

Cosmetic medicine is the sunrise industry and is projected to rise by many folds in the years to come. It is a very important source of revenue from medical tourism point of view. Hence I feel the government should abolish the service tax from cosmetic surgery.