Mixed reaction to budget proposals from Bengal Inc

The proposals of the interim budget evoked mixed reaction from the industry of West Bengal, with one section hailing it as "a courageous policy statement" and another terming the announcements as election package.

The Calcutta Chamber of Commerce said the budget was friendly to the farming and rural sector and growth oriented in so far as infrastructure, industry and MSME sector is concerned.

RP Sanjiv Goenka group chairman Sanjiv Goenka said, "This certainly is not merely an Interim Budget, but a courageous policy statement of the country's long-term development journey. What is paining the different sections of India have been well-known, but the Budget this year has shown the courage to attack all the ailments simultaneously."

BCCI indirect taxes committee chairman T B Chatterjee said 4 lakh of MSMEs will get out of GST compliance radar and GST revenue loss would be Rs 3000 crore a year in taxes, if exemption limit is raised to Rs 40 lakh from Rs 20 lakh.

 

CII former chairman (east) and senior partner of L B Jha & Co, Dipankar Chatterji said, "This budget keeps the elections in mind. The pre-election package should bring joy among the people and putting money among the common man will also boost the economy."

"There was no capture of tax proposals, so we do not know who will pay for this? These announcements will have an impact on taxes which we don't know till the full budget" he said.

Bengal Chamber of Commerce economic affairs committee chief and former Union revenue secretary Sunil Mitra casts doubt on whether the concessions will play out in actual.

He said the budget speech was also 'surprising' as it gave unexpected vision forecast of 10 years which has never been the convention of any budget so far.

City based industrialist Sanjay Budhia said there was no announcement for corporate expectations like reducing tax burden be it MAT which is at 20 per cent or corporate tax which comes to 34 per cent against the global standard tax of 15-20 per cent.