CII terms budget "routine"

Kolkata, Mar 01 (UNI) Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the architect of the "dream budget" a decade ago, preferred to stick to a "routine" budget, the industry stalwarts said unanimously.

Bengal Ambuja Housing Developement Chairman Harshvardhan Neotia described the budget as "growth-oriented". ''The Indian economy is poised to move from a phase of moderate to high growth and in this backdrop the budget presented by the FM is satisfactory." Flakt India Chairman Aloke Mukherjee told UNI, ''There is nothing to cheer or jeer about this budget. The budget was overall satisfactory as the FM had given more emphasis on infrastructure and agricultural growth.

The industry captains were also optimistic that the projected 9.2 per cent growth would be sustainable in the long run.

''The FM had tried to address the problem of inflation through indirect taxes and through subsidies,'' he said adding that the responsibilty of curbing inflation also lies squarely on the government's shoulders.

When asked about what this budget had to offer to industries, Professor of Economics of IIM Kolkata Anup Sinha told UNI that "industry should not expect much from the budget".

About the additional one per cent tax levied as the educational cess, he said it makes sense only if it was implemented for a short span of time.

However, they said the FM has kept the room open for keeping the 3 per cent cess by insisting that this was for reservations issue as well as for secondary education.

''Since the economy has been growing, saving and investment have grown quite fast too the domestic inflation will soften up later this year,'' he added.

Though the budget has increased allocations and proposed policy measures for developement of agriculture, increased allocation for investment in infrastructure and a slew of measures to promote education and healthcare, especially among the rural sections of the country, tax payers' expectations of reduction in taxes have largely remained unmet, the industry leaders said.

UNI