GUWAHATI: Industry chambers and associations in the Northeast have welcomed the Union Budget 2021 presented by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday.
Federation of Industry and Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) hailed the Union Budget 2021, saying it would pave the way for rejuvenation of the pandemic-hit economy, generation of more employment besides attracting greater investments.
FINER president Pabitra Buragohain said the pivotal point in the budget has been the “prioritisation of growth by spending more, and spending on asset creation, and not spending in revenue account.”
“The government has not hiked spending by way of tax collection, which is the overriding theme of the budget. Instead, it has chalked out a spending programme focused on capital expenditure, which will spur growth,” Buragohain said.
“Despite the pandemic, the government has not raised any new taxes, which is commendable,” he said.
In the context of Assam, the FINER president felt the budget would open up new avenues of job creation in the core sectors of health, education, agriculture and logistics.
“Small players in the MSME sector will gain as the budget allocation has been increased two fold and many of the compliances are eased out,” he added.
Reacting to the Union Budget, FICCI North East Advisory Council chairman Ranjit Barthakur said, “We welcome the focus on infrastructure, particularly the decision to set up a development financial institution (DFI) with a projected lending portfolio of Rs 5 lakh crore and the move to enable debt financing by foreign portfolio investors.”
“This has the potential to give a much needed boost to the infrastructure sector. We hope the proposed infrastructure pipeline will include major infrastructure requirements of the Northeast like inland water transport, rail and air connectivity to remote locations,” Barthakur said.
The Indian Tea Association (ITA) also complimented the Union finance minister for presenting a visionary and progressive Budget 2021-22 that “scores high on social reforms and lays down the roadmap towards accelerating the growth of the economy.”
“The Rs 1000-crore special package for tea estate workers of Assam and Bengal will improve sustainability and strengthen the alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is expected that the tea estate population would be provided a more comprehensive coverage on welfare schemes related to housing, education, sanitation, medical facilities, etc,” the association said in a statement.
“The allocation of Rs 34000 crore for road infrastructure development in Assam and Rs 25,000 crore in West Bengal is expected to speed up development of roads and infrastructure thereby facilitating faster communication from tea gardens to destination points,” the association said.
The association further welcomed the increase in the budget estimates 2021-22 against Tea Board schemes from Rs 175 crore to Rs 375 crore.
Meanwhile, Tea Association of India (TAI) secretary-general P.K Bhattacharjee, in a statement said that the impact of the proposed minimum wages on the tea industry to all categories of workers would have to be examined once the minimum wages are notified.
“However, the announcement of allowing women to work on night shifts is welcome along with the announcement of ushering changes on the ease of doing business proposals such as ongoing registration licenses,” Bhattacharjee said.
“TAI welcomes the provision of the special scheme for the welfare of women and children in Assam and Bengal amounting to Rs 1000 crore for tea workers residing in the two states. The ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Swasthya Yojna’ is expected to offer medical succour to the tea garden population as well,” he said.