T Kannan, Managing Director, Thiagarajar Mills Ltd, and former chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry, Southern Region.
On the whole, we expected the finance minister to do better. The revenue buoyancy was very good and he could have used that to give some tax sops and reform the tax structure.
But as members of the textile industry, we are very pleased because the TUF (Technology Upgradation Fund) scheme has been extended and the integrated shell parts scheme is also a very, very positive sign. Because of this, modernisation and technology upgradation will take place and will help us compete with the rest of the world. More and more companies will modernise and come on par with the rest of the world.
Yes, China is very big as far as textiles are concerned, two and a half times bigger than India but India is standing up and competing effectively. And, the extension of schemes will help us stand up better.
It is true that he has ignored the corporate sector. He can't do something for every sector in every Budget.
The schemes announced for rural India are very good; the only issue is how he is going to deliver and how he is going to monitor each scheme. Probably he should have private-public partnership to get better results but he has not specified on any of those schemes.
The plus points I see in this Budget are the import duty coming down, there is thrust on infrastructure and education. Human Resources development also is a plus point. The minus point is not using the revenue buoyancy for tax reforms.
When such high growth is taking place, some amount of inflation is inevitable. I don't think it is a serious issue; you should live with it. I don't think this Budget is inflationary except for cement. I would give 6/10 to this Budget.
