UCCIL organized a Pre-Budget & Post-budget Analysis on Union Budget 2022 on 1 February in the Conference Hall of The Utkal Chamber of Commerce & Industry Ltd (UCCIL) under the Chairmanship of Mr Ashok Sharda, Vice President (Commerce) UCCIL.
Responding to the proposed Budget provisions, Mr Ashok Sharda, Vice President (Commerce) UCCIL rated it as 7.5 on a scale of 1 to 10. Mr Sharda laid stress on the fact that as the finance minister announced various schemes with a long term view and she was certainly under strain to arrange resources as was evident from the widening fiscal deficit of 16.6 lac crore and avoided taking soft measures on Income Tax which was a disappointment for the middle class, lower middle class. However, he lauded the schemes like PM Gati Shakti under which 400 new Vande Mataram Trains and 100 cargo terminals shall be introduced in next 3 years. The scheme of using Drone in Agriculture, direct payment of 2.75 lac crore to farmers towards MSP, Chemical free farming, on line transfer in Post office covering 1.5 lac post office, encouraging Private sector involvement in EV eco system, Battery swapping policy of EV are appreciable efforts. He emphasised the good scheme of One Nation, One Registration, allocation of 5 lac Cr for hospitality sector, 40000 Cr for housing with 7.5 lac crore Capex target an increase of 34% over previous year are the welcome steps.
Additionally, Mr Sharda focused on the establishment of a fund with blended capital under the co-investment model facilitated through SIDBI which will focus on providing financing to ailing enterprises and support sunrise sector like pharmaceutical, Agri sector, Digitisation etc. The reduction in customs duty for certain items required for making Steel will enhance the competitiveness of Indian Steel Industry. He observed that the Financial discipline and monetary controls have been given due priority instead of becoming a populist budget.
Mr Binod Dash, Vice President (Industry) UCCIL, greeted the Budget proposals as a whole and particularly the proposals on this budget have plans to boost spending to revive economy. Mr Dash said that while the government’s efforts are really admirable, one of the major gap areas that have resurfaced prominently due to the pandemic is the continuous education and training of the healthcare workforce. Access to quality educational material and avenues of learning are few and remote for the majority of healthcare professionals in the country. This gap can be filled by leveraging online education technologies specially designed for the healthcare industry. He said Digital University, Opening of 100 new Channels for school education as very innovative step.
CA Giridhari Lal Sharma, Honorary Treasurer UCCIL greeted the Budget proposals as a whole and particularly the proposals on cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) under a tax net, and focused on the decision of 30 per cent tax on any income from the transfer of virtual digital assets, specifying that no deductions and exemptions will be allowed. The scheme to revise the Income Tax return for any wrong assumption is allowed to be corrected on payment of additional tax which will reduce the litigation, which is a good step towards voluntary compliance. Exemption for Startup extended by one more year up to 31/03/2023, disallowing any set off in cases of tax evasion are new steps finding place in the budget proposal.
