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Jamshedpur, Feb. 28: Budget 2013 has brought little cheer for small and medium units in Adityapur — Jharkhand’s largest ancillary hub — which are grappling with difficult times following the slump in the automobile sector.
Organisations representing the 1,000-odd enterprises said they had been let down by Union finance minister P. Chidambaram and feared a rise in inflation.
President of Adityapur Small Industries Association R.K. Sinha complained that the budget had nothing to offer to small and medium units.
“We had great expectations from the budget, especially at a time when the automobile sector is passing through a critical phase. We were expecting increase in investment on infrastructure projects and in the mining sector, which would have boosted sale of commercial vehicles,” he said.
Sinha added that they were further expecting reduction in excise duty, which would have given a fillip to the manufacturing sector, but that too did not happen.
Echoing him, industrialist and former president of Singhbhum Industries Association Bikash Mukherjee called the budget “absolutely flat”.
“It will only add to inflation and result in decline in growth rate. The market conditions are not favourable because of which both Tata Motors and its ancillaries are required to go for block closures at regular intervals for maintaining inventory,” Mukherjee said, hinting that if situation failed to improve, several units would down shutters in the next six months.
The consolation for ancillaries is a proposal for 10,000 new buses under JNNURM.
Vice-president of SCCI Suresh Sonthali sounded unhappy too. He said the budget did not spell out anything about the goods and services tax (GST), which was to be implemented in the next fiscal.
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