AP, TS chambers hail farmer-friendly budget 

Hyderabad: The local units of industry bodies CII and FICCI hailed the Union Budget 2016-17 presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday, describing it as a ‘farmer-friendly’ exercise that would spur overall development of the country.

“The Budget 2016 is a positive development as it has extensively focused on agriculture and rural economy, apart from the crucial infrastructure. It was a structured exercise and we are hopeful that steps announced in the Budget will translate into reality,” Ramesh Datla, Vice Chairman, CII Southern Region, told media here.

He further said that Finance Minister also focused on ease of doing business and initiated several measures to that effect. “Reforms and efforts towards ease of doing business should be the ongoing processes,” he said. Dalta pointed out about nine pillars or priority areas outlined by the Finance Minister for transforming the country.

Lauding the central government for its plans to cover all the farmers under the soil health card scheme by March 2017, Sangita Reddy, Chairperson, FICCI AP &TS, said: “It’s heartening to note that the Union Budget recognises ‘agriculture and farmers welfare’ as a pillar of the transformative agenda of this government”.

According to her, the target of 5 lakh acres for organic farming is more realistic compared to the general rhetoric one had seen in the past. Stating that tweaking MNREGA to the current rural and agricultural realities and allocating nearly Rs 40,000 crores is a good step, she maintained that it would serve both the farmers and the labour, besides creating infrastructural assets.

"Recognising that rural sector is broader than agriculture and giving sufficient attention to allied activities like animal husbandry, and the thrust towards non-farm rural activities like skill building. will speed up the growth momentum in rural India,” she said.

FTAPCCI: Industry ignored

A quick reaction on the budget from the local industry is ‘the budget ignored industry’. Speaking to media immediately after the budget presentation, FTAPCCI President Anil Reddy V said, “This year budget is focused on the agriculture and farmer welfare apart from rural development and rural employment creation.” In fact, industry has high hopes on this year budget, and disappointed, he added.

He said the industry expected more sops for the small and medium industry from the budget. “The industry is demanding a special allocation of finances to MSME, which was not accepted. Now the MSMEs have to compete with the other large and medium firms to get loans from banks.”

He further said there is no reform in the labour and other services, “we hope the government would take up labour reforms in the next budget.” When asked about budget proposals for AP and TS, Reddy said, “We understand there is some respite for those who want to set up industry in the notified areas in both the states.”