Thiruvananthapuram: Finance Minister K.M. Mani will have to do some expert juggling while he presents the budget on January 17. The economy is in a tailspin and major sectors like the industry and tourism are in a serious crisis.
The minister was peppered with a host of issues and solutions at the pre-budget consultation held with academicians, trade and agriculture organisations, economists and civil society activists here.
The Confederation of Indian Industry, Kerala chapter, argued that the market conditions were “very difficult.” CII representative P. Ganesh said that long-term credit should be provided to industries and mooted a performance-based interest subvention scheme to promote MSME units.
E.M. Najeeb of the Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industries said that tourism was passing through an unprecedented slump. He called for a tax holiday for new tourism investments and wanted the 45 percent luxury tax to be rationalised at 15 percent.
M.K. Narayanan of South Kerala Hotel Federation mooted two tariffs for luxury tax; one for season and the other for off-season. Mani was also offered unique resource mobilisation methods.
