Ludhiana: Despite including a series of announcements aimed at their relief, the Union Budget has failed to woo the small businessmen of the city. 

Expressing displeasure over the budget dispatch, they claimed that majority of the announcements made by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman either come with a rider or were introduced earlier too. Moreover, none of their demands has been fulfilled. 

The businessmen claimed that hiking petrol and diesel rate by Rs 2 per litre will prove to be a major setback for them. 

United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association (UCPMA) president Inderjit Singh Navyug said, “Firstly, there is nothing for micro and small industry in this budget and what is even more shocking is that the government has levied new taxes on diesel and petrol making them costlier by Rs 2 per litre. This step will destroy the small businessmen as on one side our personal expenditure will increase and on the other, businesses will suffer as diesel rates impact production, transportation or power backup etc. Diesel is almost like a raw material for us in the factories and even a single paise hike can lead to increase in cost of production. We highly condemn this step and demand the government to immediately roll it back.” 

Except for serving old wine in a new bottle and taxing us, nothing has been provided to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in this budget, rued UCPMA senior vice-president Pradeep Wadhawan. “The announcement of giving loans in 59 minutes to the MSMEs is not new. This scheme was introduced by the government earlier and no loans are given to the new units and for the old ones, very harsh norms have been set. Besides, several announcements were already made in the interim budget declared before the general elections, so nothing new has been introduced by the government,” he added. 

Knitwear Club chairman Vinod Thapar said, “Not even a single demand of our industry has been fulfilled. There is nothing for the MSME sector in the budget and as far as garment export is concerned, the government has failed us. We have been asked to submit our suggestions and demands time and again, but nothing has come off it. We are facing a stiff competition with our neighbours China, Bangladesh, Vietnam. The government asks us to compete with them but at the same time fails to give us facilities like these countries. In Bangladesh, there is no tax on import of textile machinery, but in India, the same is 19%.” 

Published On : 06-07-2019

Source : Times of India