Vijayawada: AP Chambers on Tuesday welcomed the Union Budget proposals for 2024-25 in general and those made for Andhra Pradesh in particular.

During an interaction with the media here, AP Chambers president Potluri Bhasakara Rao congratulated FM Nirmala Sitharaman for presenting the Union Budget for a record seventh time. He stated “the Indian economy has been on a growth pattern for the past few years and even the income tax and GST collections have been increasing steadily. The Union Government has focused on important areas such as agriculture and allied sector, employment generation, skilling, infrastructure, education and health." He hailed the promise to allocate funds liberally for development of Amaravati and early completion of Polavaram project and give special status to the backward areas in AP.

“The fiscal deficit target was set at 4.9 per cent of GDP for 2024-25, whereas it was expected to be pegged at 4.5 per cent. For the first time since the bifurcation of AP, the State was mentioned in the Union Budget. Rs 15,000 crore was allocated for the development of the Capital City and a firm commitment was given to complete the Polavaram project. The FM announced financial support for the development of the three backward districts in North Andhra along with Prakasam and the Rayalaseema districts.

The FM also announced support for the development of Kopparthi industrial park under Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) and Orvakal industrial park under Hyderabad-Bangalore Industrial Corridor (HBIC). He said the budget has announced the much-needed support for the MSME sector, which is in dire straits. Some schemes for MSMEs were reintroduced, EPF benefits to employers were announced, Mudra loans were increased from 10 to 20 lakh and credit guarantee scheme was increased up to Rs.100 crore.

Bhaskara Rao stated “support for the food processing sector including shrimp processing, irradiation centres etc was announced. The FM announced that 100 industrial parks will be developed in the country. AP has to try to get some of them sanctioned for the State. On the other hand, AP needs at least Rs 1 lakh crore as soft loan to develop the State on all fronts. But there was no mention with regard to this. We also expected the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) limits to be increased for AP, which was not announced."

Speaking on the occasion, AP Chambers treasurer S Akkaiah Naidu said, “We have been waiting for the past 10 years to hear allocations for AP and it has happened only this year. Coming to direct taxes, standard deduction for salaried employees was increased from Rs 50,000 to 75,000. Deduction on family pension for pensioners has been increased from Rs15,000 to 25,000. The exemption on long-term capital gains on shares and mutual funds has been increased from Rs 1 lakh to 1.25 lakh."

AP Chambers Taxation Committee Chairman Nitta Ravi Kishore stated that the import duty on three cancer medicines has been reduced to zero. The budget also gave importance to rooftop solar by reducing the import duty on solar panels. The import duty is slashed on mobile phones and chargers. The budget attempted to rationalise the TDS rates, he observed. AP Chambers general secretary B Raja Sekhar said, “The Union Government gave importance to the development of the rural economy by announcing Rs 2.66 lakh crore for the development of the rural economy including the rural infrastructure. The FM also announced Rs 1.52 lakh crore for the development of agri and allied sectors. "We welcome these allocations," he said.