By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 5 Jul: CII, in association with Graphic Era Hill University, organised a budget viewing session, here, today. The session was attended by Industry leaders from various sectors, including Manufacturing, Healthcare, Entertainment, Telecommunication, Garments and Finance. As per the industry experts, they see positive sentiments with this Government Budget. Some leaders present during the session were Suyash Agrawal, Vipul Dawar, Sanjay Jasola, Vice Chancellor, Graphic Era Hill University, Vandeep Ratra, Pavitra Arora, Rashmeet Singh and Shailendra Sharma. According to Mukesh Goyal, Chairman, CII, Uttarakhand, the recapitalisation of banks and measures for NBFCs were positive steps. The?boost to affordable housing, Electrical Vehicles (EVs) and Start-ups were welcome steps. Also incentives to Mega Manufacturing Projects would generate employment over a period of time. The Confederation of Indian Industry has welcomed the Government of India’s mandate of reaching a 5 USD trillion economy in the next few years. Outlining this roadmap, the Union Budget 2019- 20 has given optimum attention to all major aspects of the economy such as enhancing farmers’ income, infrastructure development, rural and urban development, empowering youth and women, boosting start-ups and entrepreneurship, financial and banking sector reforms, leveraging the growth of MSMEs, faster adoption of latest technologies like electric vehicles, etc. CII is happy to acknowledge that many of its recommendations were incorporated in the Union Budget 2019-20. The MSME sector which is the backbone of the Indian economy has been given special attention in the budget. It complimented the Finance Minister for setting up of an Online Payment Platform to address the delayed payment issues of the MSME traders. It is also encouraging to note that IT exemption had been kept till Rs 5 lakhs, which is in line with CII recommendations. For a long time CII, has been advocating revisiting the corporate tax rate. It is happy to note that the Finance Minister has included all companies having annual turnover of Rs 400 crores under the bracket of 25 per cent corporate tax rate. Promoting foreign investments by opening FDIs in aviation, insurance, animation AVGC and media, etc., would boost inflows in the country, making it one of the prime investment destinations. Uttarakhand being a landlocked state, greater thrust given by the Finance Minister on connectivity will greatly ease the movement of goods and people. The Northern Region contributes 1/3rd to the national agri-GDP, therefore initiatives like zero budget farming, extension of interest subvention of 2 per cent to fisheries and animal husbandry sector, etc., would greatly boost the agri-sector. Goyal said it was a long term view focusing on sustainable development of India. It’s an inclusive, balanced & pragmatic budget.
