Welcoming the interim budget presented by the outgoing government, Kris Gopalakrishnan, President of CII, said that "the vision presented in the budget is very much in line with what CII believes in.
He said the finance minister has highlighted the importance of the manufacturing sector, which is key to reviving the economy.
He added that the performance of the manufacturing sector over the last one year has been consistently poor and is in need of intervention by the government.
"On behalf of the CII, I must thank the finance minister for recognising this need and reducing excise in some of the most affected subsectors of manufacturing. The reduction in excise duty on sectors such as automobiles, capital goods and consumer electronics is indeed welcome, as this will help revive demand in these sectors," he said.
Gopalakrishnan said that since Chidambaram made a special mention of the forward looking policy to promote electronics sector, CII hoped its recommendation of the abolition of SAD and reduction in CST for electronics sector would be taken up in the regular budget.
This is important as electronics is a zero duty sector on account of ITA I. The restructuring of excise duty on handsets to include 1 percent excise duty without CENVAT credit on inputs is welcome as this will encourage handset manufacturing in India, the CII Press Release said.
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The CII President also welcomed the fiscal figures outlined by the Finance Minister in the Interim Budget speech. "It is clear that the Government has stayed on the fiscal discipline roadmap and achieving a 4.6 percent fiscal deficit is no small feat. The fact that deficit has been targeted at 4.1 percent for the next fiscal sends a strong signal and should help confidence in the economy."
"While the Interim Budget maintained overall expenditure on a tight leash, the Finance Minister manages to make some important allocations. Given the stressed assets in the banking sector, the Finance Minister's allocation of Rs 11,300 crore for strengthening the capital base of public sector banks is welcome" said Mr Gopalakrishnan.
In the 10-point vision laid out by the Minister, besides mentioning reduction in the twin deficits, emphasis was also given to a balanced monetary policy, implementation of infrastructure projects and development of cities. CII hopes that the new government will further strengthen the support given to industry and extend the support to other sectors. The implementation of GST should also be a priority for the coming government, the CII release said.