Bengal welcomes the budget

Kolkata, July.05,(HS): Members of all leading Chambers of Commerce and large section of industrialists here today heartily welcomed the annual budget proposals for 2019-20, and felt that though there was no attempt to make a ‘radical and revolutionary change’ from the last year’s budget proposals, steps have been taken to ‘remove the major bottlenecks to run the country’s engine of growth at high speed’.

Commenting on the annual budget proposals for the current year, as presented by Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman in Parliament today,they said ‘overall this was a balanced budget’.

‘This budget is one with more of a long-term vision as a follow-on of the Interim Budget presented earlier this year. It has obviously been formulated to restore confidence in the India growth story as a whole, and more importantly within India incorporate, they said.

Hailing the government decision to infuse Rs 70,000 crores for public sector banks as capital to improve their liquidity crunch, Managing Director and founder of Bandhan Bank Chandrasekhar Ghosh, who is also the Chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry(CII), Eastern Region told Hindusthan Samchar here after the budget that though the amount(Rs 70,000 crores) was not enough for the revival of all banks particularly those under severe financial stress, the new capital infusion would at least help them make a good beginning for a possible turnaround.

It would also help accelerate the growth of industry,particularly those of the Medium and Small scale sectors, he said and welcomed the government decision to allow RBI to monitor the progress of the National Housing Bank.

Echoing almost similar views,two past Presidents of CII and noted industrialists – Dipankar Chatterjee and Aloke Mukherjea welcomed the Finance minister’s announcement to boost the growth of Electric vehicles in the country by declaring a number of incentives and loan waivers for the new and emerging industry. It would open a new vista  in India’s sagging automobile sector, they felt.

Describing it as a ‘well balanced’ budget proposals, they also hailed the government decision to  allow more Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) in Insurance sector to ensure a long term gain of the industry.

Chairman Ravi Auto Limited and noted industrialist Ravi Poddar also welcomed the government plan for the growth of electric vehicles in the coming years and hoped that it would go a long way towards making India as a global hub of such vehicles in the coming era. The decision to reduce the present 12 per cent Goods and Services Tax(GST) on electric vehicles to the lowest five per cent would also help the industry to a large extent in reducing their prices, he pointed out.

According to Rajan Vaswani, a seniort member of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Chairman Western Engineering Company, the Finance minister’s announcement to spend Rs 100 Lakh crores for the development of  infrastructures in the forms of building more roads,railway tracks, ports and airports across the country during the next five years, would give a major boost to employment generation among the youth.Her plan for increasing the country’s export basket was also a step in the right direction, he said.

‘This is of course significant, since infra development is one of the main propellers for economic growth and real estate benefits both directly and indirectly’, he said.

Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Rs 700 crores Berger Paints, Abhijit Ray, also a senior member of Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry(BCCI) also hailed the Finance minister announcement to levy no taxes on individuals having an annual income of less than Rs five lakhs each,and said her decision to  impose reduced levy on companies having annual turnover of up to Rs 400 crores, up from Rs 250 crores earlier, was also praiseworthy.

Though there was no specific guidelines to boost exports, we hope that following the disclosure of the entire nitty-gritty of this year’s budget proposals  a better picture would surely emerge to help all export oriented  industries like Berger Paints, he remarked.

According to Manish Jain, Partner Digital, KPMG in India and associated with the Begal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry(BNCCI), since India has taken big leap in digital data,digital infrastructure had widened and we could harness  analytics for governance and enhancing the revenue.

‘Bharat net will bridge the gap in digital literacy between rural and urban divide. Public private partnership will be key for the execution’, he pointed out..

But  Annargha Uuttiya Chowdhury, Director, Anjali Jewellers , one of the leading gold and diamond jewellery makes in the country, felt that the increase of the customs duty on gold was not a good sign for the industry as ‘gold is used by masses for any auspicious occasions and also it acts as a security for difficult times’.

Nilesh Gaikwad, Country Manager, EDHEC Business School  said ‘It is heartening to see the Government of India emphasize on skill-training through Skill Certification Schemes. The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna will ensure our graduates are Industry-ready. Special initiatives like ‘Study in India’ will attract foreign students, thus increasing awareness of the rich and diverse Indian culture.

Former Revenue and Finance Secretary as well as the BCCI  Economic Affairs Committee Chairman  Sunil Mitra said in terms of revenue generation the Finance minister’s announcement of a record 78 per cent jump in the collection of Direct taxes to Rs 11.78 lakh crores till last year,would go a long way towards ensuring that in all likelihood the country would achieve a 7 per cent growth in GDP during this fiscal,as also predicted in yesterday’s Economic survey.

We shall also make a big stride towards becoimbg a five trillion USD economy within the next five years, he said’

About the government decision for disinvestment of Public sector units worth Rs 1500 lakh crores by 2020, he said in this connection the disinvestment in  National carrier Air India would make a good beginning.