Guwahati, February 1: The Indian Chamber of Commerce, the North East Initiative hailed the Union Budget today presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Speaking about it Mahesh Kumar Saharia, Chairman of ICC, North Eastern region said that the budget has been very inclusive taking all categories of citizens along with all the basic economic parameters. The Finance Minister specifically mentioned in her budget speech that the development of Eastern part of India is a priority for the Government of India.
This perspective of the Govt. of India will boost new economic activities and opportunities for North east, said Mr Saharia.
The government has steadfastly focused on promoting inclusivity and guaranteeing sufficient living accommodations for everyone. The latest announcement about the construction of an extra twenty million houses through the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin underscores the commitment to broadening affordable housing opportunities in rural areas.
This deliberate step not only tackles the housing requirements of rural communities but also propels growth in the housing sector within these regions said Mr Saharia. In a major initiative, the government will help “deserving” sections of middle class to build their own houses.
Homebuyers will be given about 5 lakh rebate on housing loan interest Under Section 24. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government is focusing on four major groups – poor, women, youth and the farmers. Mr Sarat Kumar Jain , Chairman of Assam & Meghalaya Chapter of Indian Chamber of Commerce greatly endorsed this new vision of the Government.
The ICC said that the government has helped 25 crore people to get freedom from poverty in last 10 years and the government focused on more comprehensive ‘governance, development, performance’ – ‘GDP’. Rooftop solarisation to give 1 crore households’ 300 units of free electricity per month.
A new Committee on technology will be launched to strengthen deep technology for defence purposes. Mr Jain said that this initiative will boost new start up ecosystem in the North Eastern region, said Mr Jain.
The revised fiscal deficit — the gap between government’s revenue and expenses — is at 5.8% of the GDP for Financial Year 24 (FY24). Fiscal deficit in FY25 is expected to be 5.1% of GDP. The number of tax filers swelled by 2.4 times. The direct tax collection has trebled since 2014. In 2024-25, the tax receipts are projected at Rs 26.02 lakh crore.
A corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore will be established with 50-year interest free loan provided. The corpus will provide long term financing and re-financing with long tenures at low or nil interest rates. This will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains. Sarat Kumar Jain, Chairman of Assam & Meghalaya State Council of Indian Chamber of Commerce appreciated this decision and said that there will a lot of domestic and external investments due to this fund.
Outlay for infrastructure has been increased to Rs 11.11 lakh crores in FY25, said FM Sitharaman which was highly appreciated by Indian Chamber of Commerce. Three major Railway economic corridors programmes will be implemented. These are energy, mineral and cement corridor; port connectivity corridors and high traffic density corridors. The projects have been identified under the PM Gati Shakti for enabling multi-modal connectivity. They will improve logistics efficiency and reduce cost. Mr Sarat Kumar Jain said that it is a very comprehensive and balanced budget where there is benefit for all the stakeholders of the Industry.
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