The Bidar Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BCCI) has welcomed the Union Budget saying it is a growth-oriented budget that does not burden the common man.
“Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has given all sectors of the economy an opportunity for growth. “There are no new taxes. In fact, he has promised to simplify and streamline the complex tax structure in the country. All this will help business and industries,” B.G. Shetkar, BCCI president, said.
Most of the promises made in the Bharatiya Janata Party manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls had been kept in the budget, he said.
“The positive signals in the budget include the 10-year tax holiday for the power industry, setting up of 20 commodity clusters that can generate employment, reduced interest rates for housing and increased tax on repayment of housing loans, providing relief to income tax payers and senior citizens, tax rebates for industrial investors, special schemes for girl children and women’s safety.
“The promise of setting up IITs and IIMs, medical and dental colleges, and hospitals in each village are also steps in the right direction,” Mr. Shetkar said. Allocation for soil cards, clean water for 20,000 villages, handicraft development, environment protection, and madrassa development should have been higher, he said.
However, Mr. Shetkar said he was disappointed on two counts. “We had hoped for a special development package for Hyderabad Karnataka. That has not come. On a larger scale, even Karnataka has got a raw deal. There is little for Karnataka in the Union Budget. Mr. Jaitley could have done more towards these,” Mr. Shetkar added.
