Deprived Lot

The Budget excludes the small-scale spinning units making yarn from man-made fibres or cotton from the purview of the SSI exemption scheme of the central excise. This is most unfortunate.

The logic advanced is that their inclusion had led to duty evasion. Then why keep the scheme for commodities, other than yarn, alive? Doesnt the same logic apply to other commodities as well?

The rationale behind the scheme is to support small entrepreneurs . This does not amount to doling out charity. This, as I perceive, is in recognition of the fact that the SSI sector generates more employment per unit of capital investment and production capacity than the big industry.

In case of small spinning units, another factor is important. As raw material, they use the waste generated by big spinning mills. Thus, they put to productive use something which is of little use to big mills. In fact, they are the scavengers of the textile industry.

The Budget places the small and the big at par. It will sound the death-knell to many small units. For sheer survival, duty evasion may be the only way out for these units knocking at the very bottom of the logic advanced to deprive them of protection.