Emphasis on infrastructure to facilitate manufacturing and exports is a welcome move: FIEO

The setting up of seven mega investment textile parks would attract investment in the sector, bringing cutting-edge technology and creating economy of scale so as to compete with our South Asian and South East Asian competitors

Hailing the Union Budget 2021-22, Sharad Kumar Saraf, Immediate Past President, said that the budget has rightly put its focus on infrastructure to revive the economy, addressed the job loss and supported the industries providing inputs for infrastructure. World-class infrastructure will go a long way to make our manufacturing and exports competitive besides reducing the logistics cost. The setting up of seven mega investment textile parks would attract investment in the sector, bringing cutting-edge technology and creating economy of scale so as to compete with our South Asian and South East Asian competitors. The levy of agri cess will help in creating agri infrastructure, reducing the wastage and enhancing the quality of agri products. Lack of infrastructure is also affecting the prices of the agri commodities. The various facilities for fisheries will push marine exports of the country which has yet not reached anywhere near its potential.” Saraf said that privatisation of the management of major ports will bring the necessary efficiency, thereby reducing the cost benefitting the exim community.

He hoped that the government will bring a policy to develop a National Shipping Line to take a major share of India’s exim trade. He added that the government should allocate the requisite funds for RoDTEP, MEIS and SEIS so that the uncertainty is removed and exporters’ past claims may be released quickly as the same has severely eroded their liquidity.