All India Chamber of Commerce and Industries here has welcomed the announcement made in the union budget on Thursday on the outer harbour project at V.O. Chidambaranar Port, Tuticorin.
P.S.S.K. Raja Sankaralingam, president of the chamber, thanked the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for having announced funds to the tune of Rs.11,635 crore towards the outer harbour project.
The much awaited project would provide a fillip to the Tuticorin economy, he said and hailed the announcement of 10 year tax holiday for power generation companies, which commence production and distribution from March 31, 2017.
Moreover, the exemption limit on long term financial savings has been increased from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs.1.5 lakh. Ultimately, the budget provided a thrust on infrastructural developments with more new port projects on the anvil, Mr. Sankaralingam said.
Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry also welcomed the budget. D.R. Kodeeswaran, secretary of the chamber, said the outer harbour project announcement would promote further industrialization in Tuticorin and enhance economic development in the southern region of the State.
Besides, the announcement on 16 new port projects would provide fillip to the shipping industry in the coming days.
The new government took all initiatives to implement goods and service tax this year.
It was also a welcome move that Foreign Direct Investment limit had been increased from 25 per cent to 49 per cent in the defence and insurance sectors. More importantly, the Central government had announced the allocation of loan amount to the tune of eight lakh crore rupees to boost the agriculture sector, he said.
Indian Consumer and Human Rights Foundation’s president A. Sankar also welcomed the government’s proposal on introduction of free drug service and free diagnosis service to help the needy.
The move to encourage rural youth to take up local entrepreneurship programmes was also a welcome step. However, the government should consider raising the personal income-tax exemption limit from Rs.2 lakh to Rs.2.5 lakh in the case of individual taxpayers below the age of 60 years to at least Rs.4 lakh, he said.
