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ShareSurat/ Ahmedabad: The union budget presented by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has failed to meet the expectations of textile units in Surat, as it has no major provisions which can push the growth of this ailing industry.
"As far as the textile industry is concerned, the budget is extremely disappointing. None of our demands such as a cut in excise and custom duties have been met. Instead, excise duty on manmade fibre and yarn has been increased from 4 per cent to 8 per cent. This will certainly hit the domestic industry," said Arun Jariwala, chairman, Surat Art Silk Cloth Manufacturers Association.
Nilesh Mandlewala, president of the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, "For the textile industry, there is nothing in the budget to cheer about. Instead of removing excise duty on manmade fibre and yarn, the finance minister has doubled it."
Pramod Chaudhary, managing director of Pratibha Group, a leading textile group, said, "It is a populist budget with focus on social welfare schemes, agriculture and infrastructure. The finance minister has not paid proper attention to the textile industry's pleas; none of its demands has been fulfilled. Now, we hope the government will announce some supportive measures for the industry in the near future."
"Issues related to textile sector are ministry-specific, not budget-specific. So we do not expect much from budget. Positive announcements from the textile ministry are expected in next few months," said Naishad Parikh, former chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Gujarat chapter.
Some players are disappointed with the fact that the budget has totally ignored industry's suggestion to enhance allocation under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme.
Solace for the industry is the proposal to extend interest subvention scheme on pre-shipment credit for exports by six months. The scheme was slated to end on September 30, but Mukherjee has proposed that it be extended till March 31, 2010.
But exporters said that their demand to double the interest subvention from 2 per cent to 4 per cent was not met under the budget. They have also been given some minor benefits in service tax, but their demand to make export earnings tax-free was not fulfilled.
