Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has expressed the hope that the “forward-looking budget” will lead to economic revival.
In a statement here on Thursday, she said the Union budget was a “very responsible document” with fiscal prudence at the heart of it and was forward-looking.
Welcoming several proposals of the budget, including the setting up of an expenditure management commission, she said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was “more than fair” to the States while addressing their concerns over the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax.
However, the proposal to permit manufacturing entities set up with FDI to sell their products through retail, including e-commerce platforms, should not extend to permitting FDI in retail, she said.
Ms. Jayalalithaa called for extension of the National Industrial Corridors to Tamil Nadu for the benefit of the planned Madurai-Thoothukudi corridor. She welcomed the plan to set up a textile mega cluster in the State.
The Chief Minister was happy that her suggestions for modifying the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to make works more productive by focussing on creation of assets and linking them to agricultural operations were accepted.
She thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sanctioning a National Institute of Ageing at the Madras Medical College. She also suggested that the budgetary plan for river links be expeditiously executed.
She wanted Srirangam included in the list of heritage towns.
