A boost to infra development: CII AP

Visakhapatnam: The industry in Andhra Pradesh by and large has hailed the proposals made in the Union Budget and described it as growth-centric.

Confederation of Indian Industry AP Chairman D Tirupathi Raju described the budget presented by FM Nirmala Sitharaman as historic due to emphasis laid on PM Gati Shakti, increasing capital expenditure, improving highway connectivity and introduction of 400 Vande Bharat trains.

The initiatives will be multiple boosters to the economy, which is at a nascent stage of bouncing back after suffering due to the pandemic. He said importance to capital expenditure will spur construction activity reducing logistics cost. Andhra Pradesh will be benefited due to announcement on finalisation of DPRs for Krishna -Godavari and Krishna-Pennar rivers. Interlinking of rivers will be a gamechanger.Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City CEO PP Lal Krishna said PLI and other initiatives have led to an increase in turnover of the pharma sector from $42 billion this year. It is expected to go up to $50 billion in the current year and projected to grow at a CAGR of 12 percent to reach $130 billion by 2030. The budget has reiterated emphasis on R&D activity.

Dr V Murali Kishna, Managing Director, Mahatma Gandhi Cancer Hospital and Research, said the health sector welcomed the priority given to setting up of medical devices manufacturing parks. However, he said for the import of CT Scan and other instruments some relief should be given as their construction is bound to take a long time in India. CII AP vice-chairman Neeraj Sarda hailed the decision to replace the Special Economic Zone Act with new legislation to make them manufacturing hubs. He said focus has been laid on the Atma Nirbhar Bharat programme to make the country self-reliant. Immediate past chairman of CII AP D Ramakrishna said that the budget has laid greater focus on the digital ecosystem for skilling and livelihood. This measure is welcomed by industry in present pandemic times. The initiatives such as 'Drone Shakti' through varied applications and for Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS) will boost the start-up ecosystem, he opined.

He said CII welcomes the consideration by the government of its long-standing recommendation of enhancing the ECLGS corpus to Rs.5 lakh crore and timeline extension till March 31, 2023.