The Union Budget presented on Thursday is more or less in the commensuration with expectations, opined office bearers of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The chamber had organised a budget viewing session here which was attended by two former Chief Secretaries, members of the business fraternity and media.
In the context of Uttarakhand state development, former chief secretary Indu Kumar Pandey stated that no budgets are or have to be revolutionary in nature. The budget exercise is always generic in nature and state has to see how the budget initiatives have to be aligned with the state’s need. He stated that targeted 3.3 per cent fiscal deficit will ensure sustained infrastructure development with the availability of funds and is positive for the state. Initiatives like cluster based cultivation can be of benefit to the state. He also stated that increase in cess will not give any direct benefit to the state.
Former chief secretary Alok Jain stated that in the progress of the state, governance is the most important aspect. He stated that its upto the state to enhance its capacity to the level that it can utilise the central government allocations in various schemes which can give benefit to the state especially in the agriculture, health, education and tourism sectors which are of most importance.
The chamber’s state chapter SP Kochhar stated that increased spending and faster implementation of the infra projects would be key to this year’s growth.
The State chapter co chairman Virendra Kalra stated that at the backdrop of the transition phase which had hit the growth rate due to some major reforms announced during last couple of years, there is positive shift in the industry sentiments and we expected some of the key announcements in the budget for strategic boost to the infrastructure, agriculture and MSME sectors.
Regional director Anil Taneja stated that extension of lower corporate tax rates for the medium MSME and reinforcement of the focus on agriculture market for effective market integration in the agri sector are welcome moves. Senior journalists Shishir Prashant and Prakhar Mishra also expressed their views on the occasion.