The All India Chamber of Commerce and Industries (AICCI) has welcomed the budget, presented by Union Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley citing it as a balanced and a visionary budget as it has spelt out reduction in corporate tax from the existing 30 percent to 25 percent.
It was a welcome relief for people dealing with trade and commerce, the AICCI president, P.S.S.K. Raja Sankaralingam, told The Hindu on Saturday.
The reduction of customs import duty on raw materials and intermediates would help industrial production and also export. A major push has been given to infrastructure spending and it would help in creating job opportunities for people.
Referring to an announcement on establishing AIIMS in Tamil Nadu, he said it would be a boon to the community as whole. Moreover, visa on arrival facility for citizens to be increased to 150 countries from the existing 43 would give a fillip to the tourism industry. The chamber also welcomed the proposal to step up power generation to meet the growing needs of the industries.
However, the hike in service tax was disappointing, he added.
T. Johnson, president of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Tuticorin said it was a forward looking budget to boost the growth of Indian economy. The boost on infrastructure sector especially roads and ports with a massive allocation of funds would certainly accelerate the economic growth.
A. Al Ameen, President, Marthandam Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed setting up of separate bank for Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) with a corpus of Rs. 20,000-crore and credit guarantee corpus of Rs. 3,000-crore.
He also welcomed abolition of wealth tax in the union budget.
