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Industry pat for Mukherjee

— PHOTO: RAMESH SHARMA

REVIVING ECONOMY: (from left) Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman, Hero Corporate Services, Chandrajit Banerjee, DG, CII, Malvinder Mohan Singh, Fortis Healthcare, T. P. Chopra, President & CEO, GE India, and Venu Srinivasan, President, CII, listening to the budget speech in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI: Industry and commerce on Monday patted Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for abolishing a number of tax regimes and focussing on rural economy and infrastructure to tackle the present economic scenario in his budget 2009-10.

The corporate bodies were happy that the Fringe Benefit Tax and the Commodities Transaction Tax had been abolished and a clear road map for Goods and Services Tax (GST) had been drawn.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President Venu Srinivasan said the spending package in the budget for inclusive growth and large outlays on infrastructure and NREGS would help revive the economy by stimulating investment and consumption.

Mr. Srinivasan said the budget had reiterated the importance of reverting to the growth path of 9 per cent and stressed private sector investment and FDI as major growth drivers of the economy. The emphasis on inclusive growth would go towards maintaining domestic demand conditions, especially in the rural sector, given that external demand is still uncertain.

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) President Harsh Pati Singhania welcomed Mr. Mukherjee’s tight rope walk in the face of the fiscal deficit and the steep fall in the growth rate.

Mr. Singhania said the Finance Minister had provided a stable tax framework with some reforms and simplification of procedures.

He had not attempted an outright correction on the fiscal front which could have setback growth at this stage, he added.

Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) President Sajjan Jindal said the budget was for the aam aadmi as it focussed on rural, agrarian and the social sector, which would create huge demand for goods and services for Indian Inc. He was happy that the Finance Minister gave sufficient indications for disinvestment to contain the fiscal deficit and generate resources for infrastructure development. Industry has been widely anticipating a road map for disinvestment.

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