The Hindu Business Line : ‘Slow pace of farm growth a cause for concern’

Mr S. Balakrishnan (left), General Manager, Finance and Accounts, Larsen and Toubro, and Prof S. Bisalaiah, former Vice-Chancellor, UAS, at an interactive session at M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Management Studies, in Bangalore. — G.R.N. Somashekar.

Our Bureau

Bangalore, March 20 Are farmers the biggest businessmen of our country? Is the response from the Union Finance Minister by waiving farm loans to the tune of Rs 60,000 crore fully justified? What happens if a country focuses mainly on the services sector?

A guest lecture titled “Union Budget 2008 and its implications” organised by Business Line Club for the post-graduate students of M. S. Ramaiah Institute of Management here on Wednesday, offered answers to these and many other queries.

Mr S. Balakrishnan, General Manager (Finance and Accounts), Larsen and Toubro, spoke on tax proposals focusing on revenue receipts, Plan and non-Plan expenditures as proposed by the Union Minister. He expressed concern over the slow pace of growth in the farm sector and bottlenecks in infrastructure development. “The agriculture sector contributed 20 per cent to GDP, the manufacturing sector 25 per cent, while the share of services sector was 55 per cent. The shares of agriculture as well as manufacturing sectors in the GDP have registered a steady decline and this is a cause for concern as both sectors provide employment to large percentage of the workforce,” Mr Balakrishnan said.

Chinese economy

Drawing a parallel between Indian and Chinese economy, Mr Balakrishnan said that in China, the share of manufacturing sector in GDP was 59 per cent and the benefits have percolated to broader segments of society. Prof S. Bisalaiah, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Agricultural Sciences, evaluated the Budget proposals on six criteria.

He focused on the issues and concerns of the farm sector and said that this Budget too was not soothing for the farming community.

The Dean of MSRIM, Mr V. Narayanan, welcomed the gathering, while Prof Sandhya Anvekar proposed a vote of thanks. Mr V.K. Varadarajan, Chief of Bureau, Business Line and Mr N. Rajashekar, Regional General Manager, The Hindu, were present.

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‘Slow pace of farm growth a cause for concern’