Industry lauds Haryana Budget

BUDGET IMPACT 2005/ HARYANA

Industry in Haryana has lauded the first Budget of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government, presented yesterday.

Finance Minister Birender Singh presented a tax-free Budget with a deficit of Rs 51.67 crore. He said the Haryana Fiscal responsibility Management Bill would be introduced soon, which would help in containing the deficit.

The Budget has made a subsidy provision of Rs 1,250 crore to the power utilities for supply to the agriculture sector.

The Rs 64 crore allocation for industrial promotion in the Budget for 2005-06 has been welcomed by the PHDCCI.

"It is a good beginning because new units can avail of the incentives under the new Industrial Policy, 2005, in backward areas of the state," said Vikram Kapur, chairman, Haryana committee, PHDCCI, but he felt Rs 100 crore would have been ideal.

The camber has called for substantially increasing the allocation for the state plan, now Rs 3,000 crore, as against projected expenditure of nearly Rs 13,000 crore.

The chamber has also appreciated the decision to introduce the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. CII Haryana State Council Chairman Jayant Davar praised the finance minister's commitment to rein in unproductive expenditure.

Striking a note of caution, Davar said the increases in fiscal deficit as a percentage of gross state domestic product from 1.2 per cent (revised estimates 2004-05) to 2.5 per cent (budget estimates 2005-06), and in revenue deficit from 0.3 per cent to 1 pet cent call for fiscal discipline.

Also, the introduction of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill would help bring in stability in the fiscal operations, said Davar.

The State Plan Outlay for 2005-06, at Rs 3,000 crore, would be a record increase of 34% as compared to the revised outlay of Rs 2,236.72 crore for 2004-05.

The revenue receipts are likely to increase by Rs 648.75 crore to Rs 12,037.27 crore (BE 2005-06) from Rs 11,388.52 crore (RE 2004-05). The revenue expenditure is estimated at Rs 12,985.44 crore, which would be higher by Rs 1,371.12 crore over the expenditure of Rs 11,614.32 crore (RE 2004-05).

Construction of Kundli - Manesar - Palwal Expressway on BOT basis would reduce the traffic load on the State roads. Extension of Delhi Metro Railways up to Gurgaon, Kundli, Bahadurgarh and Faridabad, introduction of 600 new buses and renovation of existing bus stands would improve the connectivity of the State, stated Mr Davar.

The budget proposes to construct a model school in every district in the State, plans to set up more ITIs & VEIs and Centres of excellence at five ITIs would provide quality technical manpower to cater to the needs of the expanding industry, business and trade in the State.

In the budget, the State Government has given due emphasis on expansion of health infrastructure, empowering Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), strengthening the financial status of municipal bodies and using e-governance for transparent and effective public delivery system.