Overall, inclusive, growth-oriented Budget: Industry

BENGALURU: Calling it an all-inclusive and growth-oriented budget with the focus on MSMEs, various industry bodies gave a thumbs-up to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Union budget. The budget has positive features for many sectors of the economy, including startups and MSMEs for greater job opportunities, they pointed out.

FKCCI president IS Prasad said the budget will help the MSME sector become more resilient, competitive and efficient with the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECGLS) being extended till March 2023. If the guarantee cover is expanded by Rs 50,000 crore, the total outlay of Rs 5 lakh crore will helps all the 130 lakh MSMEs, he added.

Prasad welcomed the Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme, which is being revamped with infusion of funds. This will facilitate an additional credit of Rs 2 lakh crore to Micro and Small Enterprises and expand employment opportunities, he said.

Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) Administrator P Shashidhar said MSMEs can look forward to a ease of doing business and better regulatory compliance due to inter-linking of various portals, such as Udyam, e-shram, NCS and Aseem.

He said their suggestion of extending soft loans at 4 per cent to MSMEs could have been considered keeping in view the challenges being faced by the sector due to the pandemic. The online billing system proposed to reduce delayed payments from Central ministries and introducing surety bonds to reduce indirect cost for suppliers will be keenly watched for their effectiveness, he added.

Ramesh Ramadurai, Chairman, CII, Karnataka State Council, said this is clearly a growth-led budget that emphasises on infrastructure development. “Logistics infrastructure, urban development, digitisation and clean tech feature prominently in the budget. It is also good to see the focus on broader financial and digital inclusion,” he added.