Cochin business chamber unhappy as Budget fails to meet demands

KOCHI: Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry has criticised Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for not giving funds for Kerala's crawling public sector industrial units in the Budget today.

However, the body has hailed proposals like announcement on GST and reduction in corporate tax.

"Our long-pending demands like AIIMS, Cancer Hospital, revival package for FACT, among others failed to get a mention in this year's Budget," the chamber said in a release issued here.

It also criticised the government's decision to increase service tax.

"... we must say that the increase in service tax to 14 per cent has come as a shock and we do not support this move," the chamber said.

The body, however, said the Budget revives hope for estimated 8.5 per cent GDP growth in 2015-16.

"The announcement that GST will be implemented by April 1 next year is a very welcome one. We hope that the government will be able to fulfil this commitment on schedule," the chamber said.

It welcomed the decision to reduce corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over the next four years.

The chamber also appreciated the Minister's statement that exemptions to individual taxpayers will continue and that the Direct Tax regime will be internationally competitive on rates.

"The proposed rationalisation of foreign investment - like FPI and FDI - to be replaced with a comprehensive type is timely. We understand that individual tax payers will benefit to the extent Rs 4,44,200 from the exemptions announced," it said.

The chamber appreciated the proposals to curb black money generation and the idea to incentivise credit/debit transactions.

"The move to set up five ultra mega power projects of a capacity of 400 MW is the need of the hour, especially when the country's commercial primary energy consumption has grown by about 700 per cent in the last four decades.

"We are grateful to the government for allocating Rs 1,000 crore for IT startups as we feel it will benefit the budding startups in Kerala," the body said.