Budget 2011: GST coming through soon is a major development,says Adi Godrej

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday presented to Parliament the budget for the coming financial year beginning in April.

Folowing are the views of industry officials on the budget:

Vinay Kshirsagar, CFO, Shreyas Shipping and Logistics: "As far as shipping industry is concerned the finance minister has removed duty on imports of spares. This is a direct benefit for domestic shipping firms as repair costs will go down. He has also allocated funds for warehousing and announced steps to improve cold storage chains. This will indirectly help the logistic industry. He has taken note of the bottlenecks in supply chain process and there is an attempt to reduce the bottlenecks for the sector."

Adi Godrej, chairman, Godrej Consumer Products: "I think the most important thing is that he has clearly given a signal of GST coming through soon...that is a major development which is very welcome as it will help us solve a lot of macro economic issues, including inflation, fiscal deficit and help GDP growth.

"For the sector, another good development is reduction in surcharge from 7.5% to 5%. So as the surcharge comes down, even with the base MAT rate being hiked from 18 to 18.5%, it (the effective rate) remains unchanged."

Arvind Parakh, director, JSL Stainless: "For the stainless steel industry, the budget has been very positive. Import duty on scrap, which was 2.5%, has been brought down to zero. Also, on ferro-chrome he has rationalised the import duty, we have to wait and see. So, net-net, it is positive for the industry as it will help us reduce the cost on an average by anywhere between $40 and $50 per tonne."

Nittin Johari, CFO, Bhushan Steel: "The increase in export duty on iron ore will increase its availability in the domestic market, thereby stabilising price and helping domestic steelmakers."