BUDGET: Nothing major or special for AP, officials tell CM at review meet
VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has held a meeting with officials on the Union Budget 2021-22 and examined the financial allocations offered to various sectors. The officials informed the CM that there were no major or special allocations to the state.
Although there were high hopes and expectations for special allocations to AP still facing odds due to the 2014 bifurcation, the Union Budget proved to be a disappointment, they told the CM.
“Neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka received good shares of allocations. The allocations to various sectors and programmes of AP were general in nature and on par with what were given to other states,” they said.
There, they said, was a slump in allocations for the PM Kisan, PM Awas Yojana and NREGS as compared to the previous year, besides a cut in the subsidy on foodgrains, petrol and fertilizers.
Jagan asked officials to try their best to get more funds from the Centre. “Liaise with the Union Government and ensure a timely inflow of funds,” he told officials of the finance department and CMO.
Earlier in the day, the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry hailed the Union Budget, saying it focused on health care and infrastructure to revive the economy by giving a boost to spending, job-creation and the agriculture sector.
FAPCCI president C.V. Atchut Rao said a welcome feature of the budget was that there are no changes in direct taxes in addition to measures such as exemption to senior citizens aged over 75 from filing the Income Tax returns. The dispute and resolution scheme for small taxpayers through a special committee and doubling of the exemption limit for tax audit for companies doing most of their business through digital modes were welcome.
Atchut Rao said the equity market will be enthused with changes in the capital gains taxes or STT. He welcomed the move for a Single Securities Market Code. With the introduction of agriculture infrastructure cess on fuel, the price of petrol will increase by Rs 2.5 per litre while diesel will be costlier by Rs 4 per litre. This will have a cascading effect on the prices of agriculture and agro-based products.
Referring to the specific proposals for Andhra Pradesh, he said that except for the railway freight corridor projects – the East Coast Corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada, the North-South Corridor from Itarsi to Vijayawada, and the fishing harbour hub for Visakhapatnam, the budget has no mention of any new project for this state.
Achut Rao welcomed the proposals for extending the tax holiday for startups as well as the capital gains exemption by one more year to March 31, 2022, to amend the definition of small companies by increasing their threshold for capitalization from a maximum of Rs 50 lakh now to a maximum of Rs 2 crore and turnover from a maximum of Rs 2 crore to a maximum of Rs 20 crore.
