“We have sought to give a fillip to the farm sector, put more money in the hands of the taxpayers, left the peak rate of customs unchanged, and general excise rates. We have lent our support to the export industry.
We have raised public expenditure on education, health, roads and allocated Rs 16, 000 crore for the NREGP”, the Finance Minister said, adding that, “I have no doubt in my mind that there will be an upturn in growth this year.”
Speaking about outlays and outcomes, Mr. Chidambaram said that to ensure that the Central schemes are properly implemented and the outlays utilized for the intended purpose, “Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and I will sit down and put together an architecture for evaluation of such schemes.” He urged FICCI to take upon itself and evaluate a few schemes.
Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP & President, FICCI, pointed out that the global slowdown and the sharp deceleration in manufacturing growth during April-December, was the biggest concern about the certainty of growth.
While appreciating measures in the budget like reduction of excise duties and keeping customs duties unchanged to revive the manufacturing sector, he said: “We believe what is also needed is a lower interest rate regime by either allowing more access to ECBs or a simpler lower rupee regime. This, he said, was logical given the low interest rate regime currently prevailing globally.”
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
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