The Union Budget presented by Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister, on Monday is focused on lives & livelihood in the backdrop of economy ravaged by Covid-19 Pandemic, said Nikhil Sawhney, Chairman, CII Northern Region. At CII, we appreciate the fine balancing done to soothe the economy as well as boost it by way of increased capital expenditure, focus on creating physical infrastructure, healthcare spending.
“The Government has continued on its path of blockbuster reforms to boost development, the economy and investment sentiment, and delivered an excellent Budget in the middle of a crisis” said Aditya Berlia, Chairman-CII Delhi State .
“My complements to the Government for the BOLD, forward looking Union Budget 2021. This is the direction towards going for becoming 5 Trillion Economy” said Kanwaljeet Jawa, cice chairman, CII Delhi State. Budget will certainly revive growth with big push on health sector and infrastructure development be it Roadways or Railways. India is truly moving towards becoming “Self-Reliant Bharat”, he further added.
CII Northern Region is happy to note that the Budget ticked all the right boxes of lives, livelihood and growth which would propel the economy to an inclusive growth trajectory. We expect the reform process to continue beyond the budget announcements. We welcome the Rs 1,18,452 cr grant to meet the Revenue Deficit to 17 States during the year 2021-22, aas this will help the states in meeting their development and capital expenditure plan which suffered due to lower GST collections.
Speaking on the Budget announcements for the Northern states, he said may northern states are the hub of MSMEs, and there are many positives for the sector such as rationalisation of custom duty structures will boost the sector. Another Budget proposal to establish 7 textile parks will help many textile hubs in North India such as Ludhiana, Bhilwara, Gurgaon, Panipat in their technological upgradation and export competitiveness.
The Northern Region of the country is land locked, and the stress on expansion of physical infrastructure will go long way in connecting North with the rest of the world. CII welcome the deadline to complete the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors by June 2022. These Corridors will link Northern Region states with ports in Western & Eastern India.
Announcement of bringing 1,000 more mandis under the e-NAM umbrella and enhancing agricultural credit target to Rs 16.5 lakh crore in FY22 will greatly benefit the agrarian states of Punjab, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan etc. The announcement for setting up of Central University in Leh (Ladakh) will greatly help in meeting the aspirations of the youth of newly carved UT, Sawhney added.
