AITF sees no relief in Punjab budget for MSMEs

Chandigarh, Mar 9 (KNN) Though the size of the Punjab Budget was Rs 1,38,015 crore but it failed to please Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in the state as the industry was expecting some major relief, said Badish Jindal, president, All Industries Trade and Forum (AITF).

State Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal presented the last Budget of the present Capt Amarinder Singh Government on Sunday in Chandigarh.

''In the post COVID budget, no relief has been announced by the government.  The industry was expecting some major relief but nothing announced in the budget,'' Jindal said in a statement.

He said that the whole budget is full of fake statements. Even the government announced GSDP rate of 10.43 per cent from 2017-18 to 2019-20 which has no relevance as compared to the economic condition of the state.

''The subsidy of 1928 crores is not sufficient to provide the power to Industries at Rs 5 per unit. The government promised to supply power to the industries at Rs 5 per unit as per their manifesto but the industry is paying from Rs 7 per unit to Rs 18 per unit due to fixed charges on power,'' he asserted.

Jindal further alleged that most of the issues taken up in the budget are either previously announced policies which have no relevance with the budget speech.

''The announcements such as deemed approvals & one-time settlement were announced before by the government,'' he said.

AITF president, said that the government announced investment of 71262 crores in the budget but kept the provision of merely 50 crores of subsidies against investment proposals.

''In the whole budget nothing announced for the existing industry,'' he concluded.