Mumbai, India: This is one of the least volatile budgets I have seen
and does a rational balancing act. Happy to see that the fiscal farsightedness
has not been negotiated with the deficit maintained at
3.2 per cent. Overall the Budget seems to be lopsided towards the
rural and agriculture sector developments.
From the chemical sector point of view, the announcements relating
to agriculture, like easing the credit availability and the Krishi Vigyan
labs should add an impetus to the agrochemicals sector. This will
help farmers with access to products and technology on improving
their yields and towards more sustainable practices.
The budget has no noteworthy interventions on enabling access to
feedstock, which is one of the crucial barriers restraining investments
into petrochemicals.
It is also disappointing to see that there is not anything on corporate tax
except a proposal to cut corporate tax rate for MSMEs. However, the
eradication of the foreign investment promotion board, along with the
assurance of further liberalisation of the foreign direct investment (FDI)
policy would have a positive effect on the sector in the medium term.
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