Welcoming the sops offered in the interim Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, a majority of members from the trade, industry bodies said that structured income support for farmers and sops for the agriculture would help revive the economy.
Tamil Nadu Foodgrains Merchants Association Limited president S. P. Jeyapragasam said that there were some good announcements such as connectivity of road transport as it would increase mobility. However, the NDA government’s statement that farmers income would double by 2020 is baffling. At a time, when farmers’ were not even able to get back their expenses on agricultural activities, such announcement coming at the fag end of the term was disgusting. The allotment of ₹ 19,000 crore for laying roads in rural pockets is a welcome move. Likewise, electrification for over 2.50 crore dwellings would improve the standards of living, he added.
Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association president K. P. Murugan said that empowering MSMEs and traders by allowing 2% interest rebate on incremental loan of ₹1 crore for GST registered SME units is a welcome measure. Likewise, under GST, the assessees below the annual turnover of ₹5 crore need to submit only quarterly returns and this would go a long way in transparency in disclosure.
Economics Professor S. Theenathayalan of Sourashtra College said that while there were some interesting aspects in the budget for the unorganised sector, it had no focus on new employment generation.
Sourashtra Chamber of Commerce president M. K. Kaladhar Babu said that sops for various sector in the budget would enhance the economy towards a robust growth.
Hailing the Finance Minister for having presented the best budget among all the previous budgets presented by the BJP government since 2014, TN Chamber of Commerce and Industry senior president S. Rethinavelu and N. Jegatheesan said that there are plethora of direct tax concessions in the budget like full tax rebate for individual tax payers having taxable annual income upto ₹5 lakh, raising of standard deduction for salaried tax payers from ₹40,000 to ₹50,000, exempting levy of income tax on notional rent on a second self occupied house, enhancing TDS thresholds on interest earned on bank/post office deposits from ₹10,000/- to ₹40,000/- and deduction of tax on rent from ₹1,80,000 to ₹2,40,000. These announcements would provide substantial tax relief for small and medium tax payers. The concessions along with the proposal for direct income support of ₹6,000 per year through transfer to bank accounts of farmers having cultivable land up to 2 hectares will put more money and purchasing power into the hands of middle income group, salaried persons and farmers and thus accelerating production of goods, they added.
The Dhan Foundation had organised an interaction post-budget presentation on Friday in which faculty members from various colleges shared their views with experts. Students pursuing Commerce and Economics major also participated.
