Salaried feel let down, traders seek more push

Neeraj Bagga
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, February 1

The Union Budget presented by the Finance Minister evoked a mixed response among residents of the city. While the middle class slammed the Union Budget, senior citizens hailed the minor relief in not having to file the tax returns. The Budget proposals failed to cheer the entrepreneurs too.

Saanya Aggarwal, a company secretary, said the Budget has not talked about any boosting measures on taxation and is concentrated more on the administrative reforms. There was no relief to the salaried middle class taxpayers which suffered the most due to the pandemic. There was no hike in the standard deduction limit in the Budget, no increase in compulsory audit limit except for digital transactions, no changes in income tax rates and no relief in GST slabs on the purchase of raw material. Besides, the anomalies in the National Pension Scheme (NPS) with regard to income tax benefits were also not fixed.

There was no mention of ease of doing business, which was actually required. Export growth is a challenge but it also did not find any mention in the Budget.

Dr SS Chhina, Senior Fellow, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi, said the prices of general goods is likely to go up as a result of the agricultural cess of Rs 2.5 per litre on petrol and Rs 4 on the same quantity of diesel. Because of this, the freight, passage expenses and the production cost would enhance instantly. The Budget proposals seem to be skewed towards privatisation. Large scale disinvestment, sale of airlines two public sector banks and encouragement to the FDI proves it all.

Piara Lal Seth, president of the Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM), said allocation of Rs 15,700 crore for the MSME sector, which has share of 40 per cent in the GDP, was highly insufficient, especially after the Covid-19 induced economic crisis. Announcement for the setting up of seven mega investment textile parks to attract investment in the sector brought some cheer among the textile players of the holy city, which was once known as the Manchester of India. Seth hoped that these textile parks would herald a new era for the economy of the country on a largescale scale so as to compete with South Asian and South East Asian competitors.

He demanded income tax relief for senior citizen entrepreneurs aged 75 years or above, on the same lines as that given to other old pensioners.

Avnish Khosla, All India Secretary of a Banking Trade Union, said, “We strongly condemn the proposed decision of privatising two public sector banks and an insurance company in the next financial year. The total target of Rs 1,75,000 crore disinvestment is like destroying wealth of country. This is exactly the same amount withdrawn from RBI reserves last year and transferred in the form of tax benefit to Corporates. So instead of disinvestment of government asset this 1,75,000 crore should have been collected by reimposing tax on the corporate sector, Khosla added.

Dr Kuldeep Kaur Professor Economics and Dr BR Ambedkar Chair at Guru Nanak Dev University, says the Budget acknowledged the challenges during the pandemic and claimed to be fully equipped to support the economy to reset by announcing the six main pillars of Atamnirbhar Bharat Package, starting with healthcare and well-being. This includes increased spending of Rs 64,000 crores spread over six years. This should, however, be used to improve the quality of available infrastructure in rural and urban areas so as to tackle any pandemic in future. Extension of housing loan exemption is also a welcome step. However, Budget could have got gained more applaud if it could have mentioned something exclusive for the job creations as the unemployment rate increased during the pandemic. Some immediate steps were needed for the revival of MSMEs.

Gunbir Singh- Founder Chairman, CII Amritsar Zonal Council, said the commerce segment was bracing itself for enhanced tax burden keeping in view the adverse fiscal scenario, falling GDP numbers as well as the healthcare challenges on the fiscal reserves of the nation. However, the union budget allayed these fears with no new tax levies, but instead looked at mobilising required funds through disinvestment and privatisation, thus monetising assets worth over Rs. 1.76 lakh crores while continuing down the tax reform path. District Congress Committee President Jatinder Sonia flayed the Budget for being ‘anti-people’.

Prices of items of daily use are likely to go up as a result of the agricultural cess of Rs2.5 per litre on petrol and Rs4 on the same quantity of diesel. Because of this, the freight, passage expenses and the production cost would enhance instantly. The Budget proposals seem to be skewed towards privatisation. — Dr SS Chhina, senior fellow, institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi

Allocation of Rs15,700 crore for the MSME sector, which has share of 40 per cent in the GDP, is highly insufficient, especially after Covid-induced economic crisis. Announcement of seven mega investment textile parks to attract investment in the sector has brought some cheer to the textile players. — Piara Lal Seth, President of the Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal

The Budget acknowledged the pandemic challenges & is equipped to support the economy. The main pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat Package will prove to be a good move. The spending of Rs64,000 crore, spread over six years, should be used to improve the quality of available infra in rural and urban areas so as to tackle any pandemic in future. — Kuldeep Kaur Professor Economics at GNDU

The commerce segment was bracing itself for enhanced tax burden keeping in view the adverse fiscal scenario. However, the Budget allayed these fears with no new tax levies, but instead looked at mobilising required funds through disinvestment and privatisation, thus monetising assets worth over Rs1.76 lakh crore. — Gunbir Singh- Founder Chairman, CII Amritsar Zonal Council

The Budget is silent on boosting measures on taxation and is focused more on the administrative reforms. There is no relief to the salaried, which suffered the most during pandemic. There is no hike in the standard deduction limit in the Budget and no increase in compulsory audit limit except for digital transactions. —1 Saanya Aggarwal, a Company Secretary