Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

`Small and medium enterprises ignored'

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI FEB. 28. There was mixed reaction to the Union Budget 2003-04 with some industry leaders hailing it as "well-conceived and balanced" while others, especially those in the finance sector and small and medium enterprises, expressing disappointment at having been ignored.

Participating in the `Budget session with media', organised here today by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Southern region Chairman, A. Vellayan, described the announcement on introduction of value added tax across the country as significant.

Expressing confidence that the budget would spur investment, the Murugappa group director hailed allocations in major areas, including infrastructure and health. The debt swap scheme would result in "healthier" States, he said.

Expressing satisfaction over measures proposed for increasing exports, the Federation of Indian Exports Organisations president, M. Rafeeque Ahmed, said the decision to remove 75 items from the reserved list for small-scale industries would go a long way in increasing exports. This, he added, would result in flow of foreign investment too.

Along with R. Veeramani, representative from the minerals sector and chairman of Gem Granites, he expressed concern at the absence of any scheme for reducing funding cost of exports. Banking credit should be available to exporters at a comparatively low rate, Mr. Ahmed said adding "there was no focused infrastructure funding for exports".

The competitiveness of Indian exports, Mr. Veeramani noted, would be affected by the imposition of additional cess on fuel.

Representing the NBFC, Farouk M. Irani, managing director, First Leasing Company, said the budget came as a relief, as many Kelkar Committee recommendations, including reduction of depreciation allowance, created a scare.

The general manager, Sundaram Finance, R. Anand, said while a lot of importance was accorded to infrastructure development, absence of any mention about NBFCs in the speech was a disappointment.

The representative of small and medium enterprises and managing director of Tespa Tools, K.S. Shetty, said there was nothing much in the budget for small-scale units and expressed concern at the absence of any scheme for promoting technology upgradation in the sector.

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