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Cheer for plantation sector

By G. Satyamurty

COIMBATORE, FEB. 28. The United Planters' Association of Southern India (UPASI) has hailed the Union Budget as "very good for the plantation sector".

In a statement, the UPASI President, Anil Kumar Bandari, said he was happy to note that the Government had come out with an open statement that the industry was in trouble despite the recent marginal improvement of prices of tea and coffee.

He commended the removal of the Additional Excise Duty of Re. 1 per kg on tea as a "positive development" for the betterment of the tea industry as it would bring down the cost of production.

He pointed out that the Finance Minister had also mentioned that the Price Stabilisation Fund had failed to address the problems of the industry and an expert committee was constituted to review the scheme.

The industry also welcomed the reclamation and rejuvenation scheme to address the productivity issues of the tea plantations so as to improve its competitiveness in the world market.

However, he lamented that rubber, though purely an agricultural commodity, had been treated as an "industrial raw material" and accordingly the decision was taken to reduce its peak import duty from 20 per cent to 15 per cent. This would have "negative implications" for the rubber industrywhich had recently come out of the prolonged crisis, especially in the context of the higher stocks. Any imports due to lower customs duty would have detrimental impact on the price levels, he added.

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