State Budget is Pro-MSME; Union Budget Industry-Friendly: PIA President

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A Conclave on Central & State Budget 2017-18 was organized by PIA in association with Act Now Consultants Pvt Ltd at Hotel Taj Vivanta, Bengaluru on March 24.

Addressing the participants, PIA President Sri R. Krishnamurthy, presented his perspective on the State and Union Budget for 2017-18, from the point of view of micro and small entrepreneurs.

Alluding to how the recent State and Union Budgets impacted the small industry, PIA President Sri R.Krishnamurthy said Hon’ble Chief Minister Sri Siddaramaiah had won the hearts of all small entrepreneurs with his Budget for 2017-18.

It is a matter of great delight and immense satisfaction that some of the major grievances represented by us in our Pre-Budget Memorandum presented to the Hon’ble Chief Minister have been resolved, the PIA President said and elaborated that “for many we had been fighting for making available industrial land from KSSIDC/ KIADB to micro and small entrepreneurs on 10 years lease cum sale as was the case earlier, and which had been increased to 99 years lease. The Budget has restored the 10 years lease cum sale policy and this will realize the dreams of thousands of small entrepreneurs.”

“Concession of 25% offered to entrepreneurs belonging to category1, 2A and 2B for allotment of industrial sheds/plots by KSSIDC/ KIADB will also give a big boost to small industry growth. Another announcement that has cheered all of us is the proposal to have an exclusive Directorate with an independent Commissioner at the helm, for MSMEs. We had been successively raising this demand for many years and finally, our demand has been met in this Budget. This will ensure that policy making for MSMEs will be determined solely on the unique needs and concerns and the circumstances governing the small industry. The enhancement of limit for soft loans to women entrepreneurs at 4% from Rs 50 lac to Rs 2 crore will encourage more and more women to take up self-employment and thus give a tremendous fillip to job creation.”

“As far as the Union Budget is concerned, PIA welcomed the reduction in corporate tax rate to 25% for MSMEs with annual turnover less than Rs 50 crore. The doubling of the allocation under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana to Rs 2.44 trillion will definitely spur entrepreneurial growth. PIA also welcomed other initiatives like the focus on domestic manufacturing of mobile devices and components to strengthen ‘Make in India’ and make India a global hub for electronics manufacture.”

“We also look forward to the proposal to simplify, rationalize and amalgamate existing labor laws in 4 codes, viz. Wages, Industrial Relations, social security & welfare, safety & working conditions. The Budget kept the Central Excise and Service Tax rates unchanged and responding to industry bodies’ request on CENVAT, the Budget has extended the time limit to transfer the cenvat credit consequent to merger from 3 months to 6 months on sufficient cause being shown. Broadly speaking, the Union Budget is pro-growth and pro reforms. The Finance Minister has displayed maturity by adopting a prudent approach rather than going for a populist budget. However it is unfortunate that there was no special allocation or focus on building the infrastructure requirement of Bengaluru, which had recently been recognized as the most dynamic city in the world,” PIA President Sri R.Krishnamurthy summed up.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]