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“We have to come to terms that this team is not a T20 team, but it is just in the middle of a good first day first session of a long Test match,” is how Mohammed Ameen, President of Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI ), reacted about the Union Budget 2014-15.
It is a new team, and naturally all eyes are on its every move, especially on the Union Budget, which is supposed to be one big document signalling the Government’s intentions, directions and actions, he said.
On looking at the Budget, the intention of the new team is quite clear, the direction taken is quite encouraging. “But when it comes to proposed action, it has fallen short of our expectations,” he said.
The intention portrayed by the incoming team and on which it got a big mandate was to speed-track development, to control inflation and revive economic growth.
In his marathon two-hour speech, the Union Finance Minister took pains in covering all the priority areas and the setting direction the Government seeks to towards development.
The development menu card is crowded and difficulty seems to be in the details. The outlays are too small and scattered, a few hundred crore here and there and a cohesive action plan seems to be missing, he said.
Compared to the path-breaking intentions and announcements made by the new team in its run-up to the elections and immediately after taking charge, the actions proposed in the Budget do not sound radical and path-breaking, Ameen said.
Positives in Budget
The positives are, of course, in the form of increasing minimum tax slabs, increasing savings limits, electronic interface for government clearances and documentations, ending retrospective tax amendments, making transfer pricing rules more transparent, linking MNREGA to agricultural productivity, and using Customs and excise duties towards boosting productivity and clean energy.
The big signals of change in the manner the Government desires to raise resources and channelise spending could not be read in this Budget, he added.
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