Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant Friday welcomed the Union Budget, saying it fulfils aspirations of every section of the society, while his Cabinet colleague Vijai Sardesai said it gives hope to farmers.
On the other hand, opposition Congress said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget speech in the Lok Sabha lacked transparency.
Sawant took to Twitter to express his views on the budget soon after it was presented by Sitharaman, the first full-time woman finance minister of the country.
The #BudgetForNewIndia caters to fulfilling aspirations of every section of the society. My congratulations to PM Shri @narendramodi ji & FM Smt.
@nsitharaman ji for presenting a Budget that will ensureprogress and development of our nation, he tweeted.
Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai said the budget gives hope to Indias farmers about their future.
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Sardesai, who also holds the agriculture portfolio, said the budget for 2019-20 is futuristic and takes care of interests of the middle class andentrepreneurs, among other sections of the society.
"As agriculture minister I welcome the budgets emphasis on zero budget farming as a means to double farmers income, said Sardesai, who who heads the regional political outfit Goa Forward Party.
He said the proposal to expand self-help groups to all districts and the provision of one woman in every SHG getting loan up to Rs 1 lakh under Mudra yojana will empower women.
Sardesai praised sops provided to startups.
The Congress expressed disappointment over the first budget of the Modi 2.0 government.
"The finance minister's budget speech was opaque and misleading.
"The speech does not disclose the total revenue, the total expenditure, the fiscal deficit, the revenue deficit, the additional revenue mobilisation or the financial concessions to the millions hearing the speech," Congress Goa spokesman Trajano DMello said in a statement here.
He said the budget shied away from disclosing allocations made to important programmes like MGNREGA, mid- day, healthcare and to vulnerable sections like SCs/STs, minorities and women, among others.
"The Congress party is shocked by this departure from the usual practice, he added.
DMello said the finance minister took 60 minutes to unveil her programmes which turned out to be mostly expansion of current plans and schemes. There was no mention of innovative projects.
The Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) welcomed the budget, claiming it would help in creating employment avenues in the country.
GCCI president Manoj Caculo said the amount of money earmarked for creation of infrastructure - Rs 100 lakh crore in five years - is a huge positive step.
"It is going to create jobs in the country and will drive the economy of the country, which is a very positive sign," he added.
Caculo said the government and private sectors are going to benefit from the introduction of PPP model in Indian Railways, which will turn the national transporter into a world-class entity.
The chamber welcomed the budgets focus on electric vehicles.
"For the first time, there is a clarity as far as the electric vehicle sector is concerned, he said.
There are huge incentives for manufacturers of electric vehicles as well as buyers who would get rebate on interest on purchase of such vehicles, the GCCI chief said.
He said the government appears serious about promoting e-vehicles.
Referring to Goa-specific benefits, Caculo said increase in customs duty on imported cashew kernels would boost the cashew manufacturing industry in the state.
"Increase in customs duty on cashew kernels will help Goan cashew growers. There will be few cashew kernels coming from outside India and it will come at a higher price, giving a boost to the cashew industry in the state," he said.