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| Union Budget not up to expectations of SME sector of Punjab, Haryana |
| Press Trust of India / Chandigarh Jul 06, 2009, 18:29 IST |
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The Union Budget 2009-10 today did not live up to the expectations of small and medium enterprises (SME), as representatives of SME segment of Punjab and Haryana said that the Budget has failed to propose any new policy initiative to push the sector towards growth trajectory.
"The Budget has not come out with any policy for the SME segment which has been battling hard with the contracting demand, to address their concerns," Laghu Udyog Bharti Senior Vice President Dinesh Lakra said today.
Stating that the SME segment, which is backbone of the Punjab and Haryana's industrial sector, was completely ignored in the Budget, he said that Congress led government at the centre could have come to the rescue of the sector in the wake of meltdown impact.
"The Budget has offered nothing for the SME sector except abolishing of FBT which is an appreciable step," he said.
On the creation of special fund of Rs 4,000 crore for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in the Budget, Lakra was wary of the disbursement process. "I do not think this (fund) is going to be of any help considering the non-implementation of past schemes of the centre," he said.
The Budget 2009-10 has proposed to facilitate flow of credit at reasonable rates by providing a special fund of Rs 4,000 crore for MSME sector.
SME sector, which has complained of not having access to cheap credit, has been demanding lending rate of 8 per cent for SME sector in view of sluggishness in the sector.
"Our major demand was providing credit to SME at 8 per cent from banks and financial institutions for upgradation and expansion but the budget is silent on this issue," said a Panipat-based exporter.
Exporters in the SME segment were also disappointed over the "lack of any support" to bolster exports in light of drying of orders. "We had demanded that the government should have exempted the income tax on export income," said Engineering Export Promotion ouncil Regional Chairman SC Ralhan.
Punjab and Haryana, which house largest cluster of SME segment, has over 2,00,000 and 80,000 units of small scale, respectively.
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