The landlocked northe states are expected to benefit immensely from the government’s promise of greater thrust to connectivity made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2019, CII Northe Region Chairman and CMD of Jakson Engineers Ltd. Sameer Gupta opined on Friday.
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Interacting with the news media after a Union Budget viewing session organised in the CII Northe Region headquarters in Chandigarh, he said greater connectivity will further ease the movement of goods and people, thereby boosting competitiveness of economic activity in the region.
Photo By : Life In Chandigarh
Since northe region contributes one-third to the national agri-GDP, initiatives like zero budget farming, extension of interest subvention of 2% to fisheries and animal husbandry etc. can be expected to provide a much needed boost to the agri-sector in line with the government’s promise of doubling farmers’ incomes.
Pointing out that the budget reflects a long term view with focus on sustainable development, Gupta termed it as “inclusive, balanced and pragmatic.”
Noting with satisfaction the Union finance minister’s assertion that the Indian economy had grown from 1.85 trillion US $ in 2013-2014 to 2.70 Tn US $ by the end of the 2018-19 financial year, and is expected to cross the 3 Tn mark this year, he expressed confidence that the country will be able to achieve its target of becoming the third largest economy in the world in the next few years by climbing the 5 Tn US $ summit.
The CII Northe Region chairman also welcomed the Union Budget giving due attention to all major aspects of the economy including enhancing farmers’ incomes, infra development, rural and urban development, empowering youth and women, boosting start-ups and entrepreneurship, financial and banking sector reforms, leveraging the growth of MSMEs for greater employment generation, faster adoption of latest technologies like in electric vehicles, etc. He appreciated the government for incorporating many of the recommendations made by CII.
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Gupta complimented the finance minister for the announcement to set up an Online Payment Platform to address the issue of delayed payment to MSME traders. In line with the CII’s recommendations, personal IT exemption has been maintained at Rs 5 lakh, and lower corporate tax slab of 25% has been extended to companies with a turnover of Rs 400 crore from Rs 250 crore earlier, though the CII had recommended it be raised to Rs 500 crore turnover. Promoting foreign direct investment (FDI) by opening up the aviation, insurance, AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming and comics) and media sector, etc are expected to boost inflows in the country, making it one of the prime investment destinations, he added.
Sanjay Khurana, Chairman, CII Regional Committee on SMEs and whole time Director Baddi Foils Pvt. Ltd., particularly welcomed the promise in the budget of facilitating the smooth flow of credit to MSMEs.
Commenting on the proposed government push to boost entrepreneurship and start-ups, Dinesh Dua, Chairman, CII Regional Committee on Entrepreneurship & Start-ups and CEO & whole time Director, Nectar Lifesciences Ltd., said it is expected to create a huge space for job creation and mitigate the problem of unemployment to a large extent. He said India ranked only second in the world to USA in the number of entrepreneurs and start-ups, but, considering the size of the country’s population, the 18,000-odd start-ups were not enough. We need to take this figure to at least 50,000, he asserted.
Harish Chavan, Chairman, CII Punjab State and CEO Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (Swaraj Division), while hailing the underlining theme of ‘Gaon, Gareeb Aur Kisan’ in the budget, highlighted transforming of the rural infrastructure, agricultural diversification, focus on fisheries, cattle feed and milk, creation of 10,000-plus farm producer organisations (FPOs), and ease of doing business and living for farmers as some of the unique features announced by the finance minister.
Expressing his views, Sarvjeet Singh Virk, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council, and MD, Finvasia India Pvt. Ltd., said the budget appears to ensure more participation by retailers in the economy and also enhances the scope of institutional development by provisioning more FDI. He also appreciated the housing development schemes saying these perfectly fit a C-I-C (credit, investments and consumption) model.
