KOCHI: Industry chambers and trade bodies while welcoming the budget said the Finance Minister had, however, failed to achieve a good balance in his budget.

Navas Meeran, chairman of the Kerala chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry, said the integration of Value Added Tax (VAT) rates with other States was a good move. He said refund adalats and e-filing were some of the good elements introduced. However, the budget lacked focus on long-term programmes in critical growth sectors such as food processing, IT, ITES, biotechnology, tourism and medical tourism, value addition in exports, etc, Mr. Meeran said in a statement. "Pumping money into ailing public sectors such as the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) would be a drain on our resources," he said.

The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said it was happy that the Finance Minister had accepted the Chamber's suggestion for a special effort for amicable settlement of all long-pending cases under the Kerala Government Sales Tax Act. K. Retnam, president of the Chamber, said the proposal to set up a helpline at all important check-posts in the State was good provided they proved to be helpful to the trade. The Finance Minister's proposals for making cheques and drafts mandatory for all payments exceeding Rs. 20,000 should have been avoided due to practical difficulties, he said in a statement. There was also no worthwhile proposal for giving an impetus to the overall industrial development of Kerala, he said.

E.S. Jose, president of the Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the budget had given focus on development by allocating Rs. 4 crore towards the initial work for the proposed Kochi metro rail project and development of the Vizhinjam port. He welcomed the move to lower the threshold limit of Green Card in trade turnover from Rs 50 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh. While the awards for highest tax payer was welcome, the one per cent increase in tax on textile was disappointing, he said.

The Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed the Finance Minister's allocation of Rs 100 crore for development of the tourism sector. The move to strengthen the coir sector too was good. In a statement, Chamber president Jose Dominic said the move to upgrade electricity transmission and distribution was a right step.

However, the Chamber was disappointed that the State budget did not have any concrete proposals for infrastructure development. Increase in the stamp duties is a negative step, which would fuel evasion of stamp duties, Mr. Dominic said. The cess of Re. 1 on KSRTC tickets over Rs. 25 would directly affect the common man, he said. Overall, the Budget was silent on any measure to check rising prices of essential commodities, he said.

The Kerala State Small Industries Association welcomed the budget for reducing the tax on many items in the small-scale sector. Tax on wood for making matchboxes had come down to 4 per cent. Bottled water, marble, granite and other such items had also got a relief by scaling down the tax from 20 per cent to 12.5 per cent. A.P.M. Abdul Rahim, association president, said the Budget proposal to recharge the Kerala Financial Corporation was good but the Minister was silent on the basic infrastructure facilities needed for development.

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