Odisha wants coal royalty to be revised in Budget 2017

Odisha govt has proposed freight corridor connecting Vizag wth Kolkata and passing through the state

The Odisha government has revisited its demand for revision of coal royalty in the run up to the Budget for 2017-18. The demand for revising coal royalty was made by state Finance Minister Pradip Amat at the recent pre-Budget consultative meeting organised with states by the Centre.

"The royalty on coal was last revised by the government of India in April 2012. As per norm, the rate of royalty on coal should be revised every three years, which is due for revision in April 2015. It is requested that the Government of India should revise the royalty on coal immediately without further delay", Amat said at the pre-Budget meeting.

The state government has also proposed a dedicated freight corridor connecting Vishakhapatnam wth Kolkata and passing through Odisha to link the ports of Paradip, Dhamra and Gopalpur with the northern and central hinterlands.

Raising concern on the paucity of cash, the state government has called for stepping up supply of currency notes of Rs 100 and Rs 500 denominations and lifting of daily and weekly limits on withdrawal of cash from bank accounts to spur economic activity.

"Simplification of the direct tax regime, lower corporate and personal tax rates, fewer tax exemptions may spur investment and growth. There is also a need for bringing about uniformity in the import duty structure to remove the pitfalls of an inverted duty structure so as to encourage the manufacturing sector", Amat suggested.

"Instruction may be issued from the Ministry of Finance, Government of India to all banks to open bank branches in identified unbanked gram panchayats (GPs). The payment banks licensed by Reserve Bank of India may also be mandated to open branches in some of the un-banked GPs", he added.

On National Highways, the Minister said the Budget should have adequate funds for their repair, maintainenance and development.

Raising the issue of pending CST (central sales tax) compensation, he said, the Union government needs to consider award of compensation for 2013-14 and later keeping in view the falling revenues and strain on the state finances.