The Hindu Business Line : `Poultry sector has only got chicken feed in Budget'

THE Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, has handed over a "chicken feed" for the poultry sector compared to what other sectors of the have got, according to the Chairperson of Venkateshwara Hatcheries Group, Ms Anuradha Desai.

"The Budget while saying it wants to encourage agricultural diversification in horticulture/floriculture and food processing, no allocation or proposal for poultry has been made. I am concerned about how exactly the Government plans to do this.

"If the Government is serious about encouraging the processing business, especially in poultry, it has to look at the sector in detail. Seventy per cent of the meat consumed in the country is chicken and yet we continue to pay 25-30 per cent tax on processing chicken. We expected excise duty on chicken processing to come down to nil from 8 per cent, but it has not happened. How can we expect more players to get into the business and the existing players to survive in the market when there is very little margin in the chicken processing business?" asked Ms Desai.

"While agricultural income is exempt from income tax, poultry income is 100 per cent taxable. How does one encourage diversification in poultry?" she wondered.

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