Reacting to the budget, MIA President P Vishwanath and General Secretary Suresh Kumar Jain listed 21 proposals made by the chief minister.
Collecting taxes on the merits of payable capacity and extending tax relief for essential commodities used by the needy and weaker sections were the ‘mantra’ the chief minister had adopted, they added.
Also Read
“The budget focused on development of industries in the backward areas and efforts to amend the acts and rules of the Industry and Revenue Departments to facilitate the ease of starting industries," the two industrialists added.
The formation of a vision group for the overall development of industries in the state, proposal to formulate a new labour policy and steps to introduce smart card for the unorganised labour, the proposal to set up an organic jaggery park at Mandya and a mega textile park at Chamarajanagara, 90 per cent subsidy for agricultural equipment, the free distribution of shoes with socks for students up to 10th grade, and free solar fan and light installation at all anganavadi centres were the other proposals which they lauded.
However, they noted that some of the budget proposals would be helpful to the small scale industries if purchases were made from MSMEs within Karnataka.
They were disappointed over the additional tax of 1 per cent on petrol and diesel, non-allocation of state contribution of Rs 3 crore for the Mysore Export Centre, though the Centre had allocated its share of Rs 3 crore and failure to include the formation of the Mysore Industrial Township Authority.
The other proposals they welcomed included enhancement of the professional tax limit from Rs 10.000 to Rs 50.000; exemption of tax for footwear up to Rs 500 and for solar inverters, 5.5 per cent tax reduction for electrical and electronic cables; refund of tax paid by lamp societies to promote forest based products; enhancement of loan limit from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore for SC/ST entrepreneurs, enhancement of VAT registration limits from Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for small businesses and industrialists.
They also expressed their happiness at the 90 per cent subsidy for cold storage activity, steps to establish 1 million rural industries in gram panchayats, constructions of 100 girls’ hostels, distribution of foreign education scholarship and award for talented students in the name of Devaraj Urs; development of three industrial parks across 10,000 acres in the next five years, establishment of a solar park over 5,000 acres to generate 1000 Mw; 5 per cent interest subsidy for crushers which manufacture M-sand, solar power facility for 100 schools and colleges, and development, upgradation and widening of PWD roads.