Export organisations pin hopes on Budget

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 29

The export data for the past few months has been showing low or marginal growth and this has become a matter of concern. This was stated by Ganesh Kumar Gupta, president, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).

In a press release issued on Tuesday, Gupta said he expected that the Budget, though an interim one, would unveil certain benefits, particularly for the MSME sector and for specific product clusters and research and development, which would help in increasing exports, giving boost to manufacturing and job creation.

Exporters have to still bear the taxes on petroleum and electricity, state levies such as Mandi Tax, and the Budget may provide measures for refund of the same to exporters, hoped the FIEO president. He said focus would be on promoting exports and giving the industry support at a time when global economy was facing slowdown.

Employment creation is the biggest challenge in the country and therefore the Budget should give tax concession to units which create jobs in the country. Every incremental creation of jobs should give tax deduction equivalent to the employees cost to unit, said Gupta.

Gupta emphasised that to double the farmers’ income, the Budget should allocate substantial fund for backward and forward linkages in agriculture including in cold chains and warehouses so that India is developed on a stable agri export policy, announced earlier.