CII welcomes Assam budget

Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) today welcomed Assam budget for the year 2014-15 presented by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, which, it said, unlike previous years has no 'mega announcements' and seems to be 'more practical and grounded'.
CII North East Council's co-chairman Abhijit Barooah welcomed Chief Minister's Rural Economy Development Scheme announced in the budget.
"This is probably the first time the state has announced a convergence of efforts by including three to four major departments of the state. This can be the building block for other such initiatives in the future", Barooah said.
CII Assam State Council's Chairman Barun Barpujari said that the industry was happy to note that given the current inflation rate the government has enhanced the exemption limit of professional tax for the benefit of the lower and middle class of the state.

A long standing demand of CII for creating an industrial land bank for development of industrial clusters has been addressed in this year's budget with assurance of work starting in this financial year itself, he said.
Exempting the renewable energy devices and spare parts from VAT was another concern addressed in this budget.
However the proposed increase in the VAT rate on natural gas from 12 p.C to 14.5 p.C will be detrimental for the industries in the region as this should be considered as an industrial input and taxed at not more than 5 p.C, he added.