Chief Minister Raman Singh on Friday reviewed the 2016-17 Budget preparations being made by the Commercial Tax, Commerce & Industry and Urban Administration departments at the Mantralaya here.
Notably, the 2015-16 Budget provision had Rs 10 crore made for investors in the form of capital investment, interest grant and skill development in the State Budget for the electronics and IT sector .
The budget announcement last year was in consonance with the new IT & Electronics policy of the State Government, officials stated.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh government has already included Electronics Manufacturing also under its IT/ ITeS Policy. This has been done as per the vision of the Prime Minister on ‘Make in India’ initiative for which the State government has envisioned ‘Make in Chhattisgarh’ campaign, officials stated.
Currently, the State has a suitable eco system for Electronics/IT/ITeS Industry with key parameters of Physical and Social infrastructure, Air and Telecom Connectivity, Responsive Electronic,IT/ITeS Policy and CHiPS as single point of contact.( Ease of doing business), they stated.
The Cabinet decision last year to approve the new Electronics, IT/ ITeS Policy is keeping focus on Electronics, IT/ ITeS as income and employment generator, officials stated.
The policy focus is on IT Developers, IT Development units, Electronic Manufacturing Unit, Data Centre, etc.
Moreover, host of incentives like Interest Subsidy, Capital Subsidy, Subsidy on land Premium, etc was provided to new units coming up in the State, it was announced in the State budget 2015-16.
Interest Subsidy which was 75 per cent of the interest paid, maximum upto 60 lakh per year for 7 years, has been upgraded to 75 per cent of the interest paid , maximum upto Rs 1.1 crore per year for 8 years, it had mentioned.
Capital Investment Subsidy which was 45 per cent, maximum Rs 1.4 crore has been revised to 50 per cent, maximum upto Rs 1.5 crore, it stated.
Subsidy on land premium upto 80 per cent had been provided.Further incentives of 5 per cent on Capital Subsidy. Interest Subsidy and on land premium would be provided to units employing more than 50 per cent workforce of Chhattisgarh domicile, or starting production within year 2015-16, it had mentioned.
Keeping the requirements of small and medium enterprise in mind, the policy provides incentives such as 50 per cent subsidy on lease rent, reimbursement of training cost of IT Professionals upto Rs 20,000 per employee and subsidy upto 30 per cent on Bandwidth charges among others, it had stated. The policy has been framed keeping the requirements of Electronics,IT/ITeS Industry, and is the most competitive policy amongst States of India.
Chief Minister Raman Singh said last year while addressing media persons after presenting the State budget 2015-16 in the Chhattisgarh legislative Assembly that the substantial allocation of Centre’s Service Tax revenue share will boost development in Chhattisgarh. The reduction in VAT from 5 to 4 per cent on Aviation Turbine fuel will help stock fuel in various smaller regions of Chhattisgarh and help the operators to park their aircraft overnight in the State, he had stated.
The growth rate of Chhattisgarh is 13.20 per cent while the national growth rate is about 11.59 per cent, the Chief Minister had stated in the Chhattisgarh Assembly while presenting the Budget 2015-16 .Singh had stated that the State had tried to meet the basic requirements of the masses. The First Five-Year Plan focussed on the infrastructure development and the Second Five-Year Plan on Human Resources development.
The Per Capita Income has risen from Rs 18,559 to Rs 64,442 during the past decade. The State Government has invested about Rs 25,000 crore in agriculture during the last ten years, he had stated. About Rs 8,000 was spent on each farmer. The agriculture growth rate in Chhattisgarh is 7.8 per cent which is higher than the national average of 3.2 per cent per year, Singh had stated.
The Chief Minister while referring to the Food and Nutrition Security had stated that the State was spending 30 per cent more than in 2006-07. The amount spent in 2014-15 is Rs 4396 crore. The amount spent on the purchase of paddy from farmers has increased by four-fold.
The remuneration paid to farmers on the purchase of paddy has increased seven-fold. About Rs 40,000 crore had been spent on infrastructure during the past decade. About Rs 20,000 crore had been spent on laying and improving roads of 22,500 kilometers length. About Rs 16,000 crore had been spent on irrigation facilities to two-and-a-half lakh hectares of land, he had stated.
There is a marked improvement in the lives of citizens in the entire State. Chhattisgarh is the first State to present Youth Budget catering to the fifty per cent of the population. The first General Budget was about Rs 10,200 crore had now increased to Rs 65,000 crore, Singh had stated.