The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Union Budget: common man feels relieved

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Friday, Jul 09, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Union Budget: common man feels relieved

By Our Staff Reporter

Piyush Mittal of Red Planet forsees a rise in computer sales. Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

HYDERABAD, JULY 8. The euphoria is missing as is the hype. But the Union Budget for 2004-05 has certainly touched the life of the common man.

The low-income segment with income up to Rs.1 lakh per annum need not pay Income Tax. Earlier this limit was only up to Rs.50,000 and all those in the next slab paid tax. "It will be a significant saving," says a relieved Surya Prakash working in a private firm in the city.

Pasha, an autorickshaw driver, has a small piece of land in his village on Andhra-Karnataka border. "My family migrated to city and I drive autorickshaw to eke out a living with agriculture proving unviable."

Did he hear about the latest Budget and does he know the good news for farmers? He shakes his head in the negative but his eyes light up when told that farmers would get all help including loans and irrigation facilities, to revive agriculture in a big way. "Will the decision be implemented everywhere?" he asks and adds "my parents will prefer to go back to our village then."

The senior citizens are happy with the proposal for a new savings scheme in the Budget. "The proposed 9 per cent interest per annum will be a great help," says Subramanyam, a retired person. The middle and upper middle classes, mainly those from the IT sector, say the budget presented a sort of status quo for them.

Jeetendra Chaware, associate vice-president, Cell Exchange, says nothing has been done to boost the software sector. As most of the IT people are in higher income group slabs, there was no benefit there. "I welcome initiatives for education, health and social sectors but am disappointed the budget has nothing to motivate the revenue generating IT sector".

The announcement on full exemption of custom duty for computers was welcomed by computer dealers and prospective buyers.

Most dealers said they were anticipating some relief in the Budget but did not expect a full waiver of the duty. "The sales went down in the last one month as most preferred to wait till the budget. Now, with this announcement, we can expect a sharp rise in computer sales," says Piyush Mittal of Red Planet at Somajiguda.

If the manufacturers pass on the relief fully to the customers, the prices of computers could go down by at least 7 per cent to 8 per cent, one dealer said. Anubhav, business manager with Access2future, said their sales were hampered in the run-up to the Budget.

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