Anantapur: Trade, industry circles disappointed with Budget

Anantapur: A cross section of people have, by and large, described the Union Budget as a corona-centric and corona management budget. It has dwarfed all other issues on which the people had pinned high hopes. They also felt that the budget had failed to address the adverse impact of corona on the economy and on the livelihoods of people. It also disappointed women, trade and industry circles.

District Chamber of Commerce president P Seshanjeneyulu dubbed the Union Budget as basically a corona relief budget, which in people's health point of view is a welcome move as health is dearer to all sections of people and earmarking of Rs.35,000 crore for vaccine production and promise to allot more is a welcome step.

Besides corona management, the government gave priority to infrastructure building, farmers and health but otherwise there is hardly any sops for trade and industry. Trade and MSME sector sops or incentives are nil. Major incentives are for the farm sector because of farmers ongoing agitation. No major boost for corona-affected industry or tourism sectors. No new sops for the trade and industry particularly the MSME sector. It is more a corona versus health budget and nothing much to cheer, he felt.

A small trader Yarava Prakash pointed out that to be specific, the Union Budget is disappointing to small traders. Small traders always suffer from capital investment inadequacy and the budget has given absolutely nothing to small businessmen and women traders. The government promised even during last budget collateral security-free loans up to Rs 1 crore. A small section of these traders may want such loans but what the small traders need is hassle-free loans from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh without any financial guarantees or property security.

This economic section is the largest in the country but day in and day out they struggle for small investments but even the national banks does not entertain them without collateral security. Leave alone Rs 1 crore, the banks are not giving petty loan amounts of Rs 2-5 lakh. It is very disappointing that the government does not think much about these section of people who run their businesses on pavements and small make-shift rooms. Even during the corona pandemic, these sections of people almost starved due to lockdown conditions. Government should have come forward to give loans to the Covid-affected sections to rebuild their shattered lives, Yarava Prakash lamented.

Dr D Asha Devi, professor in an engineering college, felt that the budget is disappointing as it is without a roadmap for accelerating growth and revival of consumer demand. The finance minister could have been brave but chose to be timid. The nation needed a bold budget and more direct transfers to the weaker sections to revive demand, restart job creation. The Budget 2021 has left the middle class 'bruised and wounded' she said, by not changing tax slabs, not increasing deductions, not making new deduction slots like home loans, not bringing fuel under GST, not sharing Rs 19 Lakh crore gain from fuel taxes, not reducing GST rate.