Union Budget on expected lines: AP Chambers

Vijayawada: “No major announcements were expected as this is an interim budget, said president and general secretary of AP Chambers Potluri Bhaskar Rao and B Raja Sekhar respectively while commenting on the interim budget of the Central government here on Thursday.

As 2024 is an election year, there were a lot of expectations on some changes in direct and indirect taxes. But contrary to the expectations, the Union government did not announce any changes in the direct and indirect taxes. The AP Chambers hailed the decision of a corpus fund of Rs 1 lakh crore with 50-year interest-free loans to scale up research and innovation in sunrise domains. This initiative can foster research and development.

It augurs well that the government extended the tax exemptions given to start-ups till March 31, 2025, they said. In order to boost tourism, long-term interest-free loans will be provided to States. The three economic corridors announced by the Finance Minister—the port connectivity corridor, the energy, mineral, and cement corridor, and the high traffic density corridor—can reduce logistic costs, they pointed out.

The government proposes to expand and strengthen the EV ecosystem by supporting manufacturing and charging infrastructure and encourage the greater adoption of e-buses for public transport networks. The government also proposes to provide training for MSMEs to compete globally and intends to achieve this objective through the Skill India Mission’s initiative to train 1.4 crore young individuals, along with the up-skilling and re-skilling of 54 lakh youth, and the establishment of 3,000 new Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).