Budget 2013: Ficci's West Bengal state council lauds FM's proposal for a port in the state

KOLKATA: Gaurav Swarup, Chairman, FICCI West Bengal State Council congratulated the Finance Minister for presenting a realistic balanced budget amidst the slowdown in economic growth. He also lauded the proposal for setting up a new port in Sagar in the state.

Swarup welcomed increased allocation in social schemes and emphasis on infrastructure. Tax free infrastructure bond will be a big boost for the infrastructure sector and housing loan rebate will encourage housing construction activity. The announcement to move from profit sharing to revenue sharing for energy & power projects was welcomed by FICCI. He also welcomed the investment allowance but felt that it should not have restricted only to large projects involving 100 crore and more of investment particularly since the MSME sector also needs to invest.

The allocation of Rs 1000 crore in 2013-14 to support the eastern Indian states bringing the green revolution to eastern India was also lauded by Ficci.

Referring to the announcement of developing 2 new industrial corridors i.e. Bengaluru Mumbai Industrial Corridor and Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, Mr. Swarup felt that eastern India has missed the bus. Development of these corridors and new cities that will come up along the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor will greatly influence future industrial investments in favour of states located in these corridors.