Allocation of `10L crore for rural housing hailed

Vijayawada: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Wednesday expressed satisfaction over the Union Budget-2023 presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The members of the CII addressing the media, said that the Budget elaborately focused on various issues like skill development, data centres and schemes like Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, Sri Anna Yojana and others.

Vice-chairman of CII AP chapter M Lakshmi Prasad said that the Budget stressed on the development of domestic tourism. "There was no mention of indirect taxes and also there was no clarity how the funds would be raised for the expenditure," he observed.

Good measures were proposed to boost the cooperative societies and low cost cold storages in rural areas for the benefit of the farmers, he said. Moreover, the Union Minister announced Rs 10 lakh crore for rural housing which was good for the poor.

Former chairman of CII-AP D Ramakrishna said that MSMEs are in dire straits and exports have come down drastically. There is a need to develop infrastructure for industrial development. The Budget should have focused on these issues, he added.

Past chairman of CII-Vijayawada S Narendra Kumar said that the proposal for national digital libraries would help to share knowledge across India. The proposal to recognise PAN as identity card for all digital services augurs well, he added. So was the decision to scrap all the polluting vehicles. Allocation of Rs 7,000 crore for e-Courts is also a good measure. Dr Akula Venkata Ramana, V Nagalakshmi, V Venkateswara Rao, V Krishna, Abhinav Kotagiri, Tarun Kakani and others also spoke.