Coimbatore : Various industry bodies Friday welcomed the union budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“The maiden budget of the current Finance Minister is a clear demonstration of the government’s vision towards a developed and sustainable India which is forward looking and visionary,” Convenor, Taxation Panel CII Coimbatore Zone, G Karthikeyan said.

The focus and thrust is given to agriculture, MSME, infrastructure and Start-up eco-system which will rejuvenate creation of jobs. The assurance that start ups and their investors will not be subject to any tax scrutiny for value of their shares if they file requisite declaration is a big relief to start up investors, Karthikeyan said.

The proposed faceless E assessment for the income tax assesses will provide transparency to the tax payers in addition to reduction of hassles, he said..

However, the increase of petrol and diesel will increase overall cost of living, Kathikeyan said in a statement,

Meanwhile, Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) welcomed the announcement regarding *formation of a committee with Government. and private stakeholders to suggest action to move forward on women development*.

Increasing the participation of women in workforce is the top most of priority of our country. Making a comparison, our percentage of women in workforce is around 26 vs Vietnam’s 73 and China’s 62, ITF convenor, Prabhu Dhamodaran said in a release.

“The same is at 40 per cent with textile &and apparel industry and our industry can be part of this mission and contribute more towards women development and we are keen to work on this mission from ITF”.

*We also welcome the allocation of Rs 350 crore for 2 per cent interest subvention scheme to benefit around 20 per cent of MSMEs registered under GST,” he said.,

Southern India Mills Association (SIMA), Chairman, P Nataraj welcomed the 10 point vision for next decade intending to make the country achieve 5 trillion USD economy in few years.

In a release, Nataraj welcomed the budget that has laid ambitious targets to address various important issues relating to connectivity, power, skill development..

He also appreciated the announcement of One Nation One Grid power sector tariff and structural reforms.

The textile industry being the power intensive industry and facing problem of stiff competition in the global market would get greatly benefited with the proposed reforms addressing the barriers like cross subsidy surcharges, undesirable duties on open access and captive power generation, he said..

The announcement of four labour codes in place of multilple labour legislations is yet another welcoming feature in the budget, Nataraj said..

However, he said that the allocation of Rs.700 crores for Amended Technology Upgradation Fund (TUF) Scheme was very much on lower side as the total pending TUF subsidy under various TUF Schemes is amounting to around Rs.10,000 crore.

He expressed hope that once the Ministry of Textiles conducts Joint Inspection and make the claims, adequate funds would be provided to enable the industry to mitigate the financial stress currently being faced.

Out of Rs.17,822 crore fund allocated for TUF subsidy for the period 2017-2022, only around Rs.2,400 crore has been utilized, Nataraj said and appealed to the Government to expedite the release of subsidy.